Black Sun, Bloody Moon
by Creleuth
Summary: When Lisanna died, Mirajane and Elfman were not the only ones who change personalities. Natsu, his heart broken twice now, first by Igneel's disappearance and now by Lisanna's death, gains a dark and hard edge to his personality. Dark!Natsu, tons of OC characters so if you don't like that then please don't flame, NatsuxLisanna.
1. Cry, Sun and let god know Pain

Chapter 1:

Cry Sun, and Let God know your Pain

_"Cries of the Sun, Bloody dripping from White. The Pink flame turns Black, White to nothing. Rage, Grief, the empty grave sings!"_

_L…Lisanna is what?_

He stared dumbly at Elfman and Mirajane, both of whom were sobbing and choking after saying those three horrible words. Elfman had a new scar on his cheek and both were dirty and covered with wounds and bruises.

_No way…Lisanna can't be dead, ne? It's all a big joke on me right? Haha, funny…_

He desperately hoped that Lisanna was still alive, that somehow she would pop up behind the two of them and say that everything was alright, that they were back. There was just no way Lisanna is gone, she was always alive and kicking, always able to brighten his day. No way is she dead.

_Ne Lisanna? Why don't you come out now?_

_Come on Lisanna, stop joking already…_

_Lisanna, stop joking…_

_Lisanna, stop…_

"LISANNA!"

* * *

Everyone was shocked, the youngest of the Take-over Siblings, Lisanna, was dead? _No way_, everyone thought. But what could they do? Mira and Elfman were both crying their hearts out and Lisanna was nowhere in sight, what else could they think?

Erza for once didn't try to antagonize Mira; she didn't have the heart for it, knowing as she did the pain of losing someone. Instead she walked right up to Mira and hugged her, knowing that grief needed time to vent before one could move on.

Gray didn't say anything as well, what was there to say? Everyone here in Fairy Tail lost someone in their lives, but it hurts even more when the person you lost was someone you could never live without. Lisanna was one who could make everything alright again, she was the only one Natsu ever listened to, barring Erza and Mira. He went to Elfman, who was sobbing uncontrollably and muttering under his breath, and comforted him.

Everyone else was quiet and silently crying, Fairy Tail was their family after all, and Lisanna was one bright part of it. They all felt for Mira and Elfman's grief, but some were also concerned for Natsu. Natsu did not exactly have a lot of friends in the guild, and Lisanna was his best friend, they watched him somberly, knowing he would take it harder than any of them, almost as much as Mira and Elfman, maybe even more.

Natsu himself was frozen, as if he was made of stone. His eyes were overshadowed by his pink hair and tears were slowly making their way from the darkened orbs to the ground. He started trembling, but from anger or grief or sadness they didn't know, his fists were clenched so hard that blood started dripping to the floor as they shook harder and harder.

"LIIIISSSAAAANNNAAAAA!" He shouted, his head tossing backwards to cry at the heavens as his flames erupted from his whole body, making those closest to him jump and back away was fast as possible. He fell to his knees and started yelling himself hoarse, calling out her name again and again as his fists started smashing the wood below him into dust. His eyes were blurry with tears and anger as he poured out his fury at the floor again and again.

"LISANNA! WHY? WHY DID YOU DIE?"

"WHAT WOULD THE GUILD DO NOW?"

"WHAT WOULD HAPPY DO?"

"WHAT WOULD I DO? LISANNA!"

Macao and Wakaba tried to get near him to calm him down but Natsu's flames rose even higher as he kept on pounding the floor.

"Natsu! Control yourself!" Erza shouted at him, but for once Natsu didn't listen. He didn't even seem to hear her. After what seemed like an eternity Natsu stopped, his flames condensing to envelop his body. Then suddenly he lunged for Elfman, knocking Gray and the others away as he grabbed him by the throat and proceeded to choke him while punching him again and again with his flame-coated fists.

"TEME! WHAT? WHERE YOU JUST ACTING TOUGH WHEN YOU SAID IT WAS A MAN'S DUTY TO PROTECT HIS FAMILY? ANSWER ME! WHO KILLED LISANNA? ELFMAN!"

"Natsu that's enough! Put Elfman down now!"

"Natsu, calm down dammit!"

"You're not helping any of this!"

"You think you're the only one who's grieving right now Natsu!"

"I killed her"

Silence suddenly ran all throughout the guild hall as Elfman said those words, piercing the mind of everyone who was there. Natsu dropped him in utter shock, and Elfman fell to his knees and started sobbing uncontrollably again.

"I was the one who killed her. I thought I was strong enough to Take Over the Beast Soul, that I could protect my sisters against it. I was wrong!" Elfman confessed. Everyone stood still in shock over his words, everyone but one person.

"Tch" Natsu's voice sounded over the silence like a whip. His eyes were visible now for all to see, and they were filled with hate as he gazed at Elfman.

"You keep spouting those ridiculous speeches of being a Man like they were your life yet you can't even follow them when it was most important." A dark aura began to emanate from Natsu's body, the flames slowly changing from bright red to black. "If that is what it means to be a Man then I don't want to be a man, I'll become a Dragon, a Demon, the Devil himself, if that is what it will take to protect those important to me. I will not let myself become weak even for a moment like you, Igneel was right in letting me grow up away from civilization, you people with your speeches and posturing; you can't even protect what's most important to you when it really comes to it."

Natsu's impromptu speech hit Elfman like the Beast Soul's assault on himself, again and again. Mira, Erza, Gray and the others could only stare at the change that came over Natsu.

"You are useless, Elfman. You cannot protect anything, you are too weak to even protect yourself. Mira needed to fight for you to protect you from yourself, what a disgrace." With that, Natsu shoved Elfman out of the way, went to Mira and snatched a silver object from her hand, and stalked out of the guild into the heavy storm that was announcing the death of a Fairy.

Gray and everyone slowly started to come to after Natsu's rant. Elfman and Mira however were stuck in limbo, still processing the hateful words Natsu had hurled at them viciously. Gray decided to go bring Elfman to a bench instead of keeping him frozen on the floor, while Erza was not listening to the chatter that slowly started to build up about Natsu and what happened. She instead was staring after Natsu, memories of a past deeply buried surfacing at his words.

_I'll become a Dragon, a Demon, the Devil himself, if that is what it takes to protect those important to me…_

… _if that is what it takes to protect…_

Memories of a certain blue-haired child with a dark shadow behind him caused Erza to start shedding tears, not noticing that both of her eyes were crying.

Beside her, Mirajane was still crying, now from the hurtful words Natsu had said to them. He was only addressing Elfman but his eyes condemned the both of them, she knew. She saw his eyes stare at her with the same hate he had for Elfman. He blamed the two of them for Lisanna's death, and how could he not? He and Lisanna seemed set to be together for life, always laughing together along with Happy, their 'child'; She was the one who helped Natsu to open up to the guild more and the one who understood him completely.

Erza knew that she needed to talk to Natsu now, even though she should be with Mira and Elfman. They were grieving yes, but they weren't the ones who were teetering on the brink of madness like Natsu, like the blue-haired kid who sacrificed himself to protect her and their friends. There was still time before Natsu would become like _him_, she had to act now.

"Cana, please help Mira, I need to talk to Natsu now." She immediately said to the heavyweight drinker. Handing the weeping Mira to a bewildered Cana without waiting for a reply, nor hearing the question that Cana shot at her, Erza ran out of the guild to find Natsu.

_I have to find him, He is so much like _him_, I can't let him be alone. I already lost _him_, I will not allow Natsu to disappear as well!_ And so Erza started searching for Natsu, in his home, the South park, everywhere. After a few hours of searching, she was out of places to find him, where could he be? Suddenly it hit her, He and Lisanna made a house together to care for Happy when they were young, maybe that's where he was. At once remembering where it was despite all the years that past from when she asked Elfman the location, she started running against the heavy rain.

* * *

_I don't think I'll ever love the rain after this day, never again_…

Beside him, Happy was bawling a river of tears. He just told him the news that _she_ was dead, and would never come back to them. After adjusting the stone a bit with his bare hands, he stepped back to admire his handiwork.

The gravestone was not ornate nor was it expensive, he just took a heavy slab of stone from the ground and began shaping it using his fire magic until it was the shape of an arrowhead; but he thought she would appreciate the fact that he made it himself, like how he appreciated her making their little house herself. He carved the mark of Fairy Tail on the head of the arrow and a message to her below. After that he dug a space on the ground for the stone, making the front of the headstone face where the sun would set everyday, in the exact same spot she stood when they had admired the sunset, all those years ago.

When he was finished placing the stone on its place, he made two smaller slabs of stone beside it and put the silver object on one and a red object on the other. They were promise rings they had made for each other all those years ago, sometime after Happy was born, so that wherever they were, they would always remember the promise they made to each other in that little hut so long ago. The silver ring Natsu made himself, spending day after day trying to make it perfect; it was a ring as white as her hair, the shape of the ring itself like the bracelet of flowers she always wore on her right hand. The red ring she made for him, the shape like that of a dragon spewing fire, the color as red as his flames.

He was drenched to the bone, working on the grave for about two hours now, but he didn't care. All he cared about was making the grave as perfect as he could for her; it was the least he could do to repay her for everything. There was one last thing he needed to do before it was just the way he wanted it to be. Kneeling down in front of her grave, he said:

"I never thought I would part with this. Igneel gave it to me, you see, but I think you would need it more than I do wherever you are, _ne_ Lisanna?" He said to the stone with a shaky voice, the tears making his eyes blurry again. "_Kuso_, the rain's making my eyes sting again haha." He looked at the grave after wiping his eyes. "I could never lie to you, right Lisanna? You always saw through me, you helped me stand up after Igneed disappeared, you were the one who understood me like Igneel did. So, I'll leave this with you _ne_? Take care of it" With that Natsu stood up and stared at the sky, the rain hiding his tears while Happy kept crying; placing a hand on His head, he then said:

"I love you"

* * *

Yo guys!

First of all, I'm so sorry for not updating the other story, a combination of writer's block, college and vacation prevented me from continuing it. Rest assured though, I just need a few more days at least before I can release a third chapter that is COOL! I'm gonna introduce Ron and Hermy in the third chappy so don't kill me!

Alrighty, if you noticed, Jellal's, Natsu's and Lisanna's pasts are slightly changed here. Jellal was actually trying to protect Erza and the others by trying to get more power, but was corrupted in the process. He banished Erza _and_ Simon, etc etc from the Tower of Heaven before his evil side completely took control.

Natsu and Lisanna are much closer this time cause Lisanna was the only one to see Natsu as he was, and not judge him or anything. Thus, when Happy was born, they both made a promise to marry each other when they were ready.

Is Lisanna really dead? This imma gonna keep mum about, basically cause I don't really know yet. But even if I did, I'm not telling you! It's central to the story!

Yep, Natsu slightly becomes like Ichigo from Bleach here, in that he wants to become stronger and he HATES the rain, but he won't say good, it's called 'Natsu the dark Dragon Slayer" for a reason people…

Cheers,

Creleuth


	2. Rain, fall and hide the tears from God

Chapter 2:

Rain, fall and hide the tears from God

"_Rain falls, night beckons. The Knight seeks the Dragon, the Moon is forever. Red, Black, White, rage against fate, you lonely Sun!"_

Erza finally reached the little hut that Natsu and Lisanna shared as kids. She stopped for a second, panting and trying to ignore the shooting pain at her side, _no time to think about such things, where is Natsu?_ She looked around and finally noticed the Dragon Slayer staring up at the sky alongside Happy who was crying at Natsu's feet. She started to move towards him but stopped when she saw the gravestone in front of them.

_Could it be… He was making that gravestone while I was blundering through the whole of Magnolia?_ She immediately felt better with herself for not finding him before he finished his tribute to Lisanna. After what seemed like an appropriate amount of time for Natsu to grieve some more, Erza decided to talk to him. She then reached out and touched his arm, feeling him suddenly tense at the contact.

"Natsu?"

"Erza? _Nani?_" He said coldly. Erza had to resist flinching at Natsu's tone.

"Come on, you'll catch a cold. Let's go back to the guild."

"-don't want- guild" He murmured quietly, Erza however got the gist of it and she frowned. The rain continued to plink against her armor and drench her head to toe.

"Natsu, they won't hate you for what you said to Elfman. They understand what you were feeling when-"

"What do you _people_ know of what I am feeling?" Natsu suddenly interrupted her mid-sentence. Normally, she'd beat him for interrupting her but the look in his eyes when he turned at her and his tone prevented her from uttering a sound.

"Lisanna was my only friend, she was the only one who ever understood me for who I am. We promised ourselves to each other Erza, PROMISED!" He suddenly shouted, the dark aura starting to emanate from him again. Erza then remembered once again what he said back in the guild.

_I'll become a Dragon, a Demon, the Devil himself, if that's what it takes…_

"NATSU!" She yelled, snapping. The thought of Natsu turning into another _him_ was too painful to imagine. "Think for one second! She wouldn't want you to become like this Natsu, she loved you for who you are, don't sully her memory by becoming someone different for her!"

"THEN WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO TITANIA? Move on and act like everything's fine? That everything's the same as always? NOTHING WILL BE THE SAME! LISANNA IS DEAD AND I WASN'T THERE TO PROTECT HER!"

Suddenly Erza understood what was eating Natsu up. Elfman considered him to be too weak to protect them during the S-Class mission, thus leaving him behind. If he had been stronger, they would have taken him with them and maybe, just maybe, he could have made a difference. So much like a blue-haired boy from a past long buried.

"Is that it? Is that the reason why you are like this then Natsu? You hate yourself for being weak?"

Everything stilled then at her words. Happy, who had been watching them fight suddenly tensed. The rain seemed to fade to black, the thunder and lighting ceased to make noise, as Natsu slowly turned his head to look at her directly for the first time in this argument.

"What?" He said in a dangerous voice. Erza then realized that what she said was over the line and completely wrong. She took a step back as Natsu's dark aura became stronger than ever before, it was suffocating.

"You think I hate myself for being weak? I'm not some _human,_" He spat through his clenched teeth, "that takes things as a matter of pride and honor and all that bullshit. _Elfman_," He spat his name, as if the very word was poison to him, "was too filled with pride to get it through his thick-skulled head that he was not as strong as he thought himself to be." He then raised his right hand and pointed it at the grove of trees. A magic circle appeared at his hand, and a great fireball erupted from his hand to incinerate the trees within a second. The explosion burned everything within a 40 meter radius of the fireball's target. Erza's eyes widened at the destructive power of just one of those things, and suddenly she realized that Natsu was just holding back his power most of the time in order for others to not get hurt from the power. He continued.

"I however, know exactly how powerful I am." His eyes then bored into hers, seemingly starting straight through her eyes and into her soul. "I have no use for pride or honor or any of those human traits. I was raised by Igneel, a dragon, a race that has no need for human pride." He then turned back to the grave.

"At first, I thought pride was an integral part of being normal, then I began to notice you and the rest of you _humans_ fought over pride like it was a treasure hoard. _Elfman_ was one of the worst, always spouting about being a Man and talking with honor and fists, in the end, he couldn't do _shit_.

"That was when I finally remembered what Igneel taught me all those years ago: Pride is Useless, Honor is Useless, Family is Everything. It does not matter if you kill your opponent in battle, or you use underhanded tactics to defeat them, all that matters in the end is that you do defeat them. Everything comes after Family.

"Bye Erza, I'll go back to the guild after I finish mourning."

Erza had nothing to say to that. She knew then that at that moment Natsu would be treading the same path _he _did, and she could do nothing about it, nothing at all…

* * *

Erza trudged back to the guild slowly, gait slow and awkward as if she was drunk. Truly she wasn't, but she was close to what it felt like if she was punch-drunk, that was for sure. Her red hair lay scattered on her back, and her bangs hid her eyes from gossipy people. Her hands were clenched as they fought not to grab the nearest object and hurl at a target, any target. The rain hid her own rain of tears, as she saw the rain also did for Natsu in the clearing.

_Natsu_. The object of her grief right now, the reason she was crying uncontrollably. He already made his decision, she knew, he would be like _him_, consumed by power and hatred. The worst part was that she helped him along, even if it was indirectly. Whenever he was depressed she would beat him and tell him to pull together, or just ignore him; not once did she try to ask him why he was sad. As a result he had only one true friend in the whole guild, Gray would always fight with him; Cana was too busy drinking to care; Mira would likely have been possible but she would never have done it; Elfman would just spout his talk about being a Man and ignore the problem.

She finally reached the guild and slowly swung open the shut doors. Only vaguely did she register that the doors were shut to signify mourning, her thoughts were too beat up to care. She entered and saw that the guild was more or less the same as around four hours before, Mira and Elfman were seated in a table surrounded by fellow mourners, the ones who didn't know Lisanna that well staying back and letting them work their grief. All heads turned at the sound of the doors and stared at the rain drenched figure of Erza. She shook her head slowly.

"He's not taking this well at all." She answered the unspoken question in the air. It was obvious that Cana had told them about her reason for leaving the guild at that time. She walked towards the table and sat down beside Mira.

"What the hell? He's not the one who lost a sibling here!" Gray immediately shouted, before someone, most likely Cana, shut him up with a smack to the back of the head.

"Gray, you have no idea what Natsu is going through right now! Why don't you use that vaunted brain of yours and understand why?" Erza said coldly to Gray, sending shivers of fear down all their spines. Gray opened his mouth to retort but Mira interrupted.

"She's right Gray. What would you do if you had only one friend in the world and suddenly that friend died?" Gray then quieted down and took a solemn look, like he knew what pain Natsu was probably feeling right now.

"Is he still, mad at me?" Erza turned to see Elfman, a defeated look on his eyes. She couldn't bring herself to lie to him and so she nodded. Elfman got the meaning and buried his face in his hands. She knew then that Mira and Elfman were not finished grieving for Lisanna yet, it might be months, maybe years before they could stop grieving, maybe never. She was no stranger to this kind of pain. She would tell Elfman exactly what Natsu said about him later, there was no need to destroy his spirit so thoroughly.

_Maybe when Natsu returns, I'll have both him and Elfman talk about it_. Erza thought, but deep in her heart she knew that that would be the last she would see of Natsu for a long time.

* * *

After Erza finally went away, Natsu stared once again at the grave, now decorated with the promise rings and the thing his foster father gave him. Happy by then had stopped crying at was staring at Natsu differently, as if he never saw this side of him before. Truly he didn't, none of them ever did; none except the girl to whom he dedicated this grave to. She was the only one who realized what he really was, and made him tell it to her; when he finally did, her response was priceless to him. She accepted him for being a Dragon Slayer, saying that him being so strong he would be able to protect them, his family. He had blushed heavily then and said that he would always protect her.

"Guess I didn't keep my promise _ne _Lisanna?" He said, smiling bitterly. He already missed her so much, and it was just a few hours since he found out. How would he cope a month from now? A year? He didn't know, what he did know was that he could never go back to Fairy Tail, not yet anyway. It hurt too much to be there, to feel her presence slowly fading from the halls and from people's memories. Also, it would be too much to ask for him to tolerate human pride now, Lisanna's death made sure that he would no longer feel that emotion, no more pride or honor. Family was everything. He looked down at Happy, who was staring back at him.

"Don't worry Lisanna, I'll take care of Happy so that someday when we meet again, maybe when Happy and I die, we could be together once again, wait for me until then my love."

With those parting words Natsu Dragneel cast away his life at Fairy Tail, for a time, and turned away from the bright, happy guild, to a world of darkness. From then on, the name Salamander would resonate all throughout the continent, spoken in utter fear and anxiety, as it was said that the mere mention of his name would bring the wizard himself to your doorstep.

On the large stone, wrapped around in a protective manner, was the scarf Igneel gave to him, fluttering in the wind that held the rain.

_**Rain, fall and hide the tears from God. The end of innocence, the seething surge. Rage, grief, anger, come and rip out the soul. Envy, Pride, Honor, washed away by the torrent. The Black Sun shines.**_

* * *

Yo! I'm posting this the moment I finish it to make sure I get the most from the inspiration I got haha.

Please review so I know what to mod or if the story is awesome or what not haha.

Cheers,

Creleuth


	3. Dim, Fairies and Mourn the Moon

Chapter 3:

Dim, Fairies and mourn the Moon

"_Lights gone, the Devil and Beast weep. Fairies surround dark light. Grief, Sadness, Guilt, awake and give these two hearts. The Slayer dies; the Dragon roars. The Knight is bare, Azure feelings; the coming of the King of flames!"_

Elfman drearily woke up in the early morning light. He lay still, wondering why he was in the guild clinic, dressed in bandages and with a new scar in his right cheek. _Where was Mira-nee and Li-? _His eyes widened as the memories of the past day came back to him, tears slowly filling up his eyes at the massive hole in his heart.

He sat up quickly, too quickly, as he felt the effects of exhaustion cause the world to tilt heavily. _Heh, like how my world tilted the moment I tried to Take-Over the Beast._ He thought bitterly, tears now starting to fall freely as his mind cleared slowly. He looked around the clinic and saw Mira-_nee_ in the bed beside him, bandaged as heavily as he was and draping an arm over her eyes, cheeks stained heavily with tears. He realized that she must have been staying up all night, crying and trying to come to terms with their loss. Or rather, that was what any person would coherently think at that time.

_Lisanna…I-I killed you…I shoved Natsu away because I thought I could protect you and Mira-nee…Now, I hurt Mira-nee, I killed you! I bet Natsu would kill me if Master would not know it was him…_

Elfman wanted to kill himself at that very moment, what use would being alive mean if you hurt your family? He _was_ useless, Natsu was right about that. He was too weak to protect his family that faithful day, now what use were his speeches on being a Man? He couldn't hold back the tears once they broke out, his pained sobbing echoing emptily throughout the entire room and, unbeknownst to him, throughout the guild hall beyond; such was his pain.

"_Ne_ Elfman, don't cry please." Elfman jerked his head up at the sound of Mira-_nee_'s voice; but it was different, softer somehow. He started at the face of his sister, who by now had removed her arm from its resting place on her head and sat up heavily. Her whole body was as dirty and caked with blood as his, her bandages slightly more as she had to endure the Beast's assault; but Elfman didn't take note of anything more than her face. Her face, once always strong and filled with determination, was heavy and sunken, her eyes drooping with guilt and exhaustion. She didn't turn to face him, instead keeping her head turned slightly towards the window beside her bed, both arms clutching her heart.

"Lisanna wouldn't want to see us crying would she? We have to be strong, if we- we –w-" She finally broke down, unable to keep her bottled up emotions from breaking out. Elfman couldn't resist the tears himself; they were already flowing down his face. They both cried themselves to exhausted sleep, dreaming of beasts and dragons and a white-haired girl.

* * *

Down in the guild hall, almost the whole of Fairy Tail was there, yet the atmosphere was as far from boisterous as it could be. The distinct lack of noise was easily explained by the depressing aura hovering over each and every person in the guild hall. Cana was busy drinking with many more barrels of alcohol scattered all around her; Gray was busy pacing again and again, no one commenting on the fact that he lasted almost three hours of not stripping his clothes; Macao and Wakaba were not talking or shouting; Reedus was not drawing for once.

Everyone turned to the sound of footsteps on the second floor; Master Makarov appeared and jumped on the railing. His eyes swept all over their tired, sad faces, his own face more lined and drawn than everyone had ever seen. He coughed into his hand.

"Five days from now we will be having the funeral of Lisanna Strauss at sundown. All guild members are required to attend; that's all, and if anyone sees Natsu, please tell him." Finished, he jumped down from the second floor and proceeded to grab a glass of alcohol to drown his sorrow.

"LISANNA!" A cry came from the guild clinic, _Elfman_, they thought. His sobs were audible to them all even though the door was closed. The guild members who were close to Lisanna also began sobbing silently, unable to accept the fact that bright, happy Lisanna was really gone for good.

Gray was not thinking about Lisanna, he was wondering where the hell Natsu was. He wanted to find that idiot and hit him again and again for saying those words to Elfman. _What kind of person crushed and rubbed salt into the wound when the victim was still grieving over the death of a sibling? _He fumed. _He should respect their grief, He wasn't the one to lose a beloved sister dammit!_

He knew that he was being too biased, that Natsu was in as much pain as Mira and Elfman, if only because Lisanna was his closest and maybe only friend in the guild. His eyes slowly started to mist as he thought of a certain little boy with his teacher and his rival.

_What would you do if you had only one friend in the world and suddenly that friend died?_

…_Only one friend in the world_…

He knew the feeling alright, when Ur died, his teacher and his foster mother; and Lyon, he might be Gray's rival, but he was a constant, a friend in the barest meaning of the word; he lost them both.

"Dammit!" The guild was shocked as the sound of Gray's voice and the splintering of wood echoed all throughout the room. Everyone looked at where Gray was to see that he had punched the wall with his bare fist, which now sported blood and bits of wood. They wanted to help but knew that Gray needed to let it out.

Suddenly the door opened with a resounding bang, the cold wind entering to room like the touch of death. Everyone almost had whiplash turning their necks to see who entered. Some hoped it was Natsu, saying that he was fine and he forgave Elfman; some desperately hoped it was Lisanna, appearing with a happy Natsu and talking about how she got lost after regaining consciousness in the forest where the mission was. They were disappointed.

Erza stood in place of the door, figure silhouetted by the light so they couldn't see her face, but they could imagine her expression by her next words.

"Is Natsu here?"

They slowly shook their heads. Erza then fell to her knees, clutching a paper in her hand, sobbing and her shoulders trembling violently.

"Then he really left…"

* * *

It was the day of the funeral, the guild of Fairy Tail was attending along with people who Lisanna befriended in their travels and around Magnolia. Everyone was there: Erza, Mira, Elfman, Gray, Cana, Jet, Droy, Levy, even Laxus and Mystogan; everyone but a certain pink-haired dragon slayer.

They were holding the funeral in the grave that Natsu made for Lisanna, Erza having led them there on the day itself, saying that they could only see it then. The grave was a beautiful sight; the guild cleaned up the clearing and put flowers around the stones. No one dared to remove the rain-soaked scarf curling protectively around the main stone, knowing the significance of the scale-like clothing. Similarly, no one dared to move the two rings from their places, to do so would be an insult to both Natsu and Lisanna, they felt.

They all knew that Natsu made this grave itself; he spent hours shaping the stones in the rain to dedicate it to her, his only love. To hold the funeral here, in the grave her love made for her, seemed fitting. Once Mira and Elfman found out that Natsu made the grave, they wouldn't have it anywhere else. They thought it would be an insult to their memory of Lisanna, the girl who loved that pink-haired idiot with all her heart; also, it would be an insult to Natsu's memory as well. He disappeared the day after their return, leaving only a note that said that he would be leaving Fairy Tail and hopefully he would never return to the place that lost her.

It was raining again, the same as that fateful day. It seemed fitting that they attend the funeral in the rain, as Natsu did six days ago. All of them were drenched to the bone, Jet and Droy trying to stop their teeth from chattering too loudly at the cold, but all of them were already cold in the inside.

In the span of one week, Fairy Tail lost two of its most vibrant members, two people who always seemed to make everyone smile and be happy. Natsu with his antics and screams of becoming stronger, Lisanna with her smiles and words of comfort and wisdom. One lost to death, the other lost to grief.

Master Makarov ignored the cold he was feeling outside, he was much colder inside. He considered his entire guild to be his family, and he just lost two of them. He sighed heavily and turned to the rest of his children.

_No parent should feel what I'm feeling right now…No parent should be holding the funeral of their own children…_

"6 days ago, a member of Fairy Tail disappeared from this world."

Mira started sobbing silently and Elfman held her against his chest, his own tears masked by the rain.

"Lisanna Strauss was many things; she was kind-hearted, able to communicate easily with others, able to understand others…

"But most of all, it was her love that made her do all of these things. It was her love for Fairy Tail and its members that made her smile; it was her love for her siblings that made her happy, it was her love for Natsu that made him open up." His voice nearly broke then, remembering his other lost child, _Natsu_.

"The name Fairy Tail came from the question of whether fairies have tails, they may or may not have them. They are gone now, but maybe somewhere, in a forgotten corner of the world, fairies still live. It is a life-long journey to find out the truth of the question, as it is a life-long journey for us to find the answer to our own deep mysteries.

"Lisanna Strauss, Fairy Tail will continue to find the answer to its mysteries, as will we continue to find the answer to yours. Your life ended before it has blossomed, but know that we will make it blossom through our own tears and blood if need be."

With that Master Makarov stepped away from the gravestone and gave her the Fairy Tail gesture, echoed by everyone behind him. Tears were running free.

* * *

_Why did you leave us… Natsu? Do you hate us that much now? Or are you like Jellal, consumed by yourself?_

Erza couldn't stop her tears no matter how hard she tried. Master was making a speech about Lisanna but she couldn't hear it over the sound of her own sobs. She knew she must look terrible, having been depressed ever since Natsu left. She alternated between visiting the grave where she saw Natsu last and lying in her bed, remembering the azure kid from the slave camp. She tried to understand what made Natsu leave them, much like how Jellal left them.

Now, six days since she last saw him, she wasn't any closer to finding out why. She knew that Natsu loved Lisanna with all his heart, knew that she understood Natsu completely and accepted him without reservations.

_Why? Why is it you leaving made my heart ache so much? Is it because you were just like Jellal? You both were always protecting others, is that why you both wanted to become more powerful?_

_Natsu? Answer me…_

* * *

He went farther and farther from Magnolia, from _that_ guild and _that _city that reminded him so much of her. Beside him, Happy was walking with his backpack behind him; the sight made him smile slightly at the image, it needed only one more person to complete the image of a Happy family.

"_Ne_, Natsu, where are we going?" Happy asked. He was still grieving over Lisanna, Natsu knew, he was just putting up a strong front for his 'father'.

"Who knows Happy? I want to find another guild, but not like _that_ guild; a guild that has no need for pride and honor, a guild that understands how useless those emotions are." He replied. Happy's ears suddenly perked up.

"I remember a guild like that!" he exclaimed. He then used his magic to fly up to Natsu's shoulder to perch himself there. "It's that way!" He said, pointing straight ahead.

"Good, I'll find a way to take care of you Happy, I promise." Natsu swore. Happy's eyes started to mist again as he remembered Natsu's words to Lisanna that he would take care of him until the three of them would be united once again. Happy smiled genuinely, he did not need to put up a mask in front of his father, no matter what, he would support Natsu till they met Lisanna again.

"Aye sir!"

* * *

_**Cry not for me, bloody Moon.**_

_**The Sun turns black with loss, he is alone.**_

_**The Slayer is dead, the Dragon revived.**_

_**The princess he loves is gone.**_

_**Cry, bloody Moon, for the foolish.**_

_**who seek to hinder the Dragon **_

_**from the princess he lost...**_

* * *

Hey guys!

WOW, like 10 reviews already? It isn't even the 2nd day yet! AWESOME!

**Windraider** – well, my justification is that Natsu's flames are the flames of emotion; as such he gains his true power whenever he feels very strongly about something. Thus, when Lisanna died, his anger and hate transferred to magical power, causing the boost. Don't worry, it's not a temporary thing, as Natsu will gain even greater control over his flames soon!

**Claire Starsword, ****RaBBitm0nster, ChedderChez, XNaruKushiX, Edwiddlem, lucifer.94, sasa** – thanks for the reviews! I'll try to update this story as much as I can with the time I have.

Yes, Elfman would gain Natsu's drive to become stronger. Yes, Erza is deeply scarred by the similarities between Jellal and Natsu. Yes, Mira will still become the bartender supreme. Yes, Gray would also inherit Natsu's drive.

Again, review please so I'll know whether to improve the quality or mod stuff etc…

Cheers,

Creleuth


	4. Mourn, Knight who lost her Dragon

Chapter 4:

Mourn, Knight who lost her Dragon

"_**The lost returns; darkness-shrouded. Dragon and Slayer are one; Black Sun, not Red. The Moon is buried, darkness-shrouded. Knight, Beast, Ice, come and see the Black Sun. Pride, be banished and Anguish from God-fire!"**_

_It's been two years now ne?_

Erza Scarlet let the wind blow on her hair as she stared out of the fast-moving train. It's been two years since _he_ disappeared, two years since rumors started of a mage with terrifying fire magic who took only specific assassination jobs and containment jobs, two years since she was last happy.

_Natsu…where are you?_

**(Flashback)**

She hadn't been able to recover from the shock of losing Natsu for more than two weeks. The entire guild began fearing that Erza would be next, that she would follow in Natsu's footsteps and leave Fairy Tail. They all knew that Erza couldn't be helped yet they tried anyway: day after day of Mira visiting her; day after day of Gray telling her to just forget that idiot; day after day of tedious, repetitive cycles: she would get up, do her absolutions, remember _him_ every time she looked at the guild hall or hear someone shout _I'm going to be stronger!_

She was tired, tired and defeated. They finally managed to make her leave her room in Fairy Halls and come down to the guild hall, two weeks of moping and crying over at last they thought. She started going out on missions again after another two weeks more of moping in the guild hall itself; remembering his screams, his fights, his smiles; the way he always managed to make her smile no matter what.

On the first job she took since Natsu left, she finished the mission in record time and returned to the guild in less than five days, even though the mission was an S-class containment mission. They were overjoyed, Erza was back, they said.

She didn't see what was there to celebrate about. She started not caring about life when he left, when she failed once again to protect her _nakama_. To her, life began to become monotonous, her outlook having changed drastically. She would go out on a mission, finish it quickly and return to the guild hall to reminiscence about the pink idiot.

For two months this cycle repeated itself until her guild mates started wondering if she would ever move on from losing Natsu. Some whispered that she was actually in love with the Dragon Slayer, that she was devastated by him leaving; others said that she lost someone similar to Natsu before, and the pain of losing Natsu only deepened the wound beyond healing. They were right on both counts, she _was_ in love with Natsu; with his kindness and drive to become stronger, He and Jellal were so much alike it hurt her heart just thinking about it.

Suddenly though, while on a mission near Era, she heard rumors of a fire magic wizard who traveled with a blue talking cat; a dark guild wizard who would only take assassination missions and who breathed and consumed fire. Immediately she had grabbed the unsuspecting gossip, her eyes alive and filled with fire for the first time in three months.

"Who is this guy you're talking about? ANSWER ME!" She demanded to the frightened man. He had blubbered and stuttered until she finally pieced together that a fire wizard had joined one of the dark guilds somewhere in Fiore recently, and rumors had come around of his exploits in assassinating important people in nearby towns and cities.

She had dropped the scared man and rushed to the train station, her will suddenly flaring to life.

_I will find you and bring you back to Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel!_

**(Flashback End)**

She hadn't found him in any of the surrounding towns that month, delaying her return to Fairy Tail until she was certain he was not in any of those cities. On her return, the news that Natsu was still alive had shocked the whole guild, who were expecting that he died because of grief; the celebratory air was punctured though, when she said that he had joined a dark guild and was assassinating people.

Gray had been furious; Elfman and Mira started blaming themselves for what happened to Natsu. It was chaos until she finally got them to calm down with the help of Master Makarov, who used his magic to shout loudly at them like a Giant. He then sat down in front of Erza and demanded her to start from the beginning.

She sighed, hands softly touching the scarf she had wrapped around her neck. It was an almost-exact copy of Natsu's, which was still on _her_ stone, not showing a single tear or blemish since he last wore it. She had found this scarf on a mission to a far-away land, where the people still believed in dragons and fashioned scarves with scale-like designs on them; she had seen the scarf in a store and knew that she couldn't leave and live with herself if she didn't buy that scarf, if only to keep her memories of him close to her.

Now, she was still searching for him. Any trace, any lead or rumor of the famed 'Black Sun', as Natsu went by these days, she chased down and uncovered. Gray and Elfman helped her each time there was more than one lead to follow, both gaining Natsu's drive to get stronger so much that Gray became an S-class mage a year after Natsu left; Elfman taking second in the S-class exam just this year. Mira had refused to be left behind when her brother had become so strong, and thus they worked out a schedule where they would take turns bartending and going on missions, mastering her Satan Soul to such an extent that she almost defeated Laxus in an all-out match a few months ago.

She sighed again and stood up, the train now slowing down as it reached its destination, the last sighting of 'Black Sun'

"We are now arriving at Hargeon Port. "

* * *

Lucy went out of the magic store; scratch that, the _pitifully_ stocked magic store. Yes, that was better; it can't even be called a _store_, being so low-stocked on the things she was looking for!

She sighed, wondering if she could ever find a perfect gate key so she could have a chance to join her dream guild, Fairy Tail. Over the years she had read Sorcerer Magazine and had laughed and gushed over the various guilds all over Fiore; one guild caught her eye though, it was Fairy Tail! The amazing guild with all the cool characters like Gray Fullbuster and Mirajane Strauss and Erza Scarlet! Now, she finally has the means to find a way to join Fairy Tail, but she still thought she lacked the proper gate keys to really shine in Fairy Tail so she was travelling around Fiore, looking for the elusive things.

Suddenly she heard screaming and shouting.

_What was that?_

She then looked at the direction of the screams and saw a crowd of people forming around someone in front of the market.

"Quickly! Salamander-_sama_ is visiting Hargeon!" a group of girls ran past her. She suddenly froze.

"Wait, Salamander? As in THE SALAMANDER!" She shouted, beginning to run towards the crowd. She was starstruck, _Salamander! The most destructive wizard in Fairy Tail! _Her head was literally steaming at the thought of seeing one of the members of her idol guild.

_What if he notices me? What if he thinks I can join Fairy Tail? What if..._

Lucy's head was short-circuiting from the thoughts whirling around in her head. She finally reached the crowd and started pushing to the forefront, desperate to see Salamander in the flesh. She pushed one of the girls to the side and was suddenly in the front of the crowd; she looked around and saw a purple-haired man with a cape in the middle, smiling at the crowd. She then felt sudden warmth in her body at the sight of the man, _what was this?_

She then started to edge closer to Salamander-_sama_, _wait, when have I called him Salamander-sama? Am I that in love with the idea of Fairy Tail? No, the one I love is, Salamander-sama! _Her eyes then turned to hearts and she went closer to him, if just to touch him.

Suddenly a blur of white, grey and red moved forward and laid a sword on the man's neck. The blur resolved itself to the figure of a red-haired woman wearing armor with a scarf that looked like scales on her neck. Her face spoke of painful torture to the man who suddenly paled and started sweating bullets. Her mouth opened and she said.

"Who are you to impersonate Natsu?" She coldly said. Her eyes narrowing even as the spell that held Lucy to infatuation shattered to pieces.

* * *

Erza was beyond furious. Here she was, looking for any trace of Natsu and wondering when he became 'Salamander' again. Maybe he changed and stopped being in a dark guild? Then this _pretender_ showed up and all the pieces fell into place for her. The man was using Natsu's 'Salamander' alias to make himself popular, probably for evil reasons. But she didn't care if the man was evil, even if he doing it to get money to give the poor; he was impersonating Natsu! In her eyes, that was enough of a reason for her to beat him to a pulp.

"Who are you?" The _scum_ said, trying to put up a brave face and gaze calmly at his attacker. She didn't answer; instead, she removed the sword from his neck and reequipped her spear. Whirling around with the momentum, she struck downwards at his left side with her spear, only his dodging at the last second did he manage not being cut off an arm.

"W-wait! What-what the hell are you doing?" he screamed.

She didn't answer again; her anger at someone impersonating _him_ was too much for her to rein in. She whirled the spear again and made a sideward sweep. He hurriedly used his magic to lift himself out of harm's way, the purplish flame shooting upwards to take him to a safe distance. Or so he thought.

"Reequip!" She shouted, a golden light enveloping her. She then reappeared with her Knight Armor and ten swords circling around her. "The Knight!"

With that she immediately rushed towards the man, who panicked at the sight of her flying through the air towards him at an alarming rate. He then raised his hands and shouted, "Red Shower!" Dozens of purplish fireballs then came out of his magic circle and rushed at Erza, who merely swatted them away with her swords. His jaw dropped.

"Those flames are nothing to what the real Salamander threw at me!" Erza shouted, rushing towards him again. The man, thoroughly scared now, instead made his escape through the magic flame that was carrying him. Erza, now derived of a target to rail at, sighed heavily as she drifted down to the ground, reequipping her standard armor when she finally reached it.

"_Ano_, _arigatou_ Miss…?" Erza turned around to see a blonde-haired girl with a cheerleader outfit and gate keys trying to apologize to her while simultaneously blushing out of embarrassment.

"Erza, Erza Scarlet"

"Wait, you're Erza? ERZA SCARLET!" Erza sweatdropped.

"Y-Yeah, that's what I just said…"

"WOW! You really ARE Erza Scarlet! The Fairy Queen of Fairy Tail! I'm so embarrassed! Please, I'm trying to join Fairy Tail and I'm wondering if you could tell me how to join? Do I need to make some kind of magic show? Do I destroy a town? Do I have to go through an interview? Do I…?" Erza felt her head start to pound. Sure, it was nice to have new members every now and then but this was just ridiculous.

"Wait, wait, WAIT!" She finally shouted, stopping the girl's daydreaming as she devolved to thinking about what she had to do. "You don't need to do anything, Fairy Tail accepts all wizards regardless if they are strong or weak."

"Really? Awesome! So where do I join? Do I…?" Erza sighed. This was going to be one long day, and she didn't manage to find Natsu at all.

* * *

"So, you're saying that the man had cast a charm spell on you and the other girls?" Erza asked. Once the girl, Lucy, had finally calmed down and introduced herself, she explained that she was certain the man had used a charm-type spell to make her fall for him. Erza was unaffected by the spell as the spell only worked for those people who didn't have someone dear to them in their life, Erza having Natsu.

"_Hai_, I don't know what he's planning to do to those girls but I heard he was hosting a party in his ship tonight."

"Hmm" Erza put her hand under her chin and thought. If he was using a charm spell then that would be grounds for an interrogation from the military already, if he was using it for some nefarious scheme then she had to stop him. She was already here anyway, and she didn't find a single lead to Natsu, so it was better to make good use of the opportunity.

"Alright, I've decided. We're going to infiltrate his ship and take him down"

"Eh!"

"Think of this as your initiation Lucy, I'll show you how Fairy Tail does a job." Lucy started crying in a corner.

"Why does it have to be me?" Erza sweatdropped.

"What are you talking about?"

"…"

* * *

"You're so cool Salamander-_sama_!" A girl gushed to Bora. He grinned evily.

"I know my dear. Now, would you like to have some champagne? Open your mouth" He said as he used telekinesis to float drops of the orange champagne and made it fly to the mouth of the girl. As soon as she ingested it, she fell asleep, a ridiculous smile showing on her face as she dreamed soundly. He checked her and called his henchmen.

"Good, she's asleep, now, take her away along with the others. Make sure to-"

_BOOM_

The room suddenly shook violently as the door was destroyed by a massive axe that cleaved through it. The light fell through three silhouetted figures as they stood where the door and a part of the wall was. Erza Scarlet appeared with her Heart Kreutz armor while Lucy was carrying a golden gate key, the third figure was a massive cow-humanoid wielding the gigantic axe they saw cut through the door as if it was nothing. Erza stepped forward.

"Bora the Prominence, regret the day you have crossed Fairy Tail!"

* * *

In the outskirts of Hargeon port, two figures appeared from the darkness, one a human boy, the other a blue cat. Both were cloaked with dark cloaks to hide their faces.

"Let's go Happy"

* * *

Hey guys!

So yeah, I decided to make a time skip from the two years to the start of the anime where Natsu was supposed to meet Lucy but Erza did instead here.

If you guys want me to write about the 2 year gap, please vote on the poll in my profile, I'll keep it on for five days and then decide if I'll write about it k?

Yes, I decided to make Lucy a bit more badass this time around, after her initial obsession with Fairy Tail of course haha.

Please review, especially if you notice any flaws or inaccuracies.

Cheers,

Creleuth

P.S. Yeah no, I'm not sure if I'll make Erza love Natsu like she loved Jellal, it'll make for a tragic love triangle yes but I'm just not sure.


	5. Dragon, turn the night red with Hate

First of all, I would like to thank all of you people who reviewed my work so far! Thanks to some insightful comments I managed to (hopefully) clear up and confusion in this chapter and answer some of the questions you people undoubtedly have!

**ChedderChez **

Well, in response to your question:  
_Chapter 3:  
_Yes, Gildarts WAS still on that weird 100-year mission since before the timeline itself, so yeah, I forgot to include him sorry bout that XD

_Chapter 4:  
_Well, the label 'dark guild' is said to be the people who do not follow the laws of Era right? Then not all dark guilds are evil per se, some might have been just people who were misunderstood or the victim of a mistake by the Council (God knows they make enough of those in the current timeline). So, there's a slim chance, no matter how slim, that there was a guild that Happy knew about that took care of family above everything else.  
Think of Fairy Tail's nakama concept, amplified by the total loss of the members' families and friends, and put in some 'I'll protect those I care about, no matter the cost' concepts and what you create is a guild that closely matches Natsu's ideals currently.

P.S.  
If you want to actually know the guild that Natsu joined, just say so in a PM and I'll send you chapter after chapter of the Lost Dragon arc (I like calling it that). This goes for all the people who wanted to know about Natsu's dark guild (The poll was just to see if I should incorporate it into this story and halt the current timeline in favour of making the lost arc).

Now, without further ado, I present to you, CHAPTER 5!

* * *

Chapter 5:

Dragon, turn the night red with Hate

"_**Abyss, ablaze with fire. Black flames; Red Eyes. God stirs in fitful slumber; Hate, Vengeance coats loss. Rain, fall and hide our tears from God. The Black Sun craves blood!"**_

"Sigh, it's starting to rain again…" Verd remarks, raising his visor to look around and be free from the stifling helmet, if only for a short while; he and his squad drew the short straw in guard duty tonight, having the graveyard shift is just sad. They didn't know it was about to become their worst nightmare.

"I don't get it, a while ago it was sunny like there was no tomorrow, now it's so cloudy it depressing." Verd's right-hand man, Seth, replied.

"Eh, whatever, let's just keep moving around and keep an eye out for any suspicious characters alright?" Herad said dismissively.

"I don't know; I got a bad feeling about this…" Seth prophesised fearfully, he then started trembling slightly without noticing it, suddenly seeing a dark figure appear out of the gathering mist that was unnaturally appearing in the usually mist-less port. Immediately, all the guards went at ready stance, instantly cautious at the appearance of the stranger.

"_Anata dare? _Answer quickly stranger!" Verd said with as much command he could force in his voice. They had a bad feeling about this person, unknowingly exacerbated by the uncontrollable trembling of their legs.

Without any warning whatsoever, all the members of the squad were suddenly cut to little pieces as the figure became a blur and past in the middle of them like it was nothing. Seth, Verd and Herad couldn't even shout as their minds were too slow to come to the conclusion that it was under excruciating pain before it realized that it was basically cut into tiny little bits of grey matter.

The figure stopped under a lamp, the dim light casting its features into sharp relief as it looked at the bay, searching for a particular ship where their target was. The figure was a young teenage girl with blond locks going down to the middle of her back, an indifferent expression on her face as she paused to wipe off a stray bit of blood that had stuck to her cheek. She was clad in blinding white clothes, with a long dress reaching up to her feet, white gloves that covered her delicate hands and a cape that reached up to her waist that billowed out behind her as the wind blew lightly against her lithe figure. Her ice-cold sapphire eyes surveyed the town that was falling quickly under her magic, the steaming remnants of the squad that dared to stand in her way slowly dampening in the growing rain that did not touch her courtesy of the sheer magical aura she was unconsciously emitting. Satisfied that all was going according to plan, she spoke softly to a communicator hidden in her ear, her melodic voice whispering to the wind that was growing stronger as her companions neared.

"Phase One, _shuryo_; Phase Two, _kaishi suru_, starting suppression of outside elements around the objective"

Her communicator crackled as her second teammate responded; the first simply acknowledging it with a beep. She cracked a small, bitter smile, he always said he hated the rain every time it did when they were fighting together, this time was no different.

"_Ryokai_, moving into position"

The girl then took a deep slow breath after acknowledging the transmission, spreading out her hands slowly in front of her as if to embrace the entire town, her massive magic power quickly gathering together as a massive magic circle appeared over the port.

"Mind Magic: Curse of Morpheus!"

* * *

Two of Bora's henchmen were blown away by Taurus within as many seconds, the massive cow pervert causing as much chaos as was possible, hitting henchmen left and right and occasionally pausing to stare at Lucy's body, before getting fired up and continuing to pulverize all the grunts with seemingly inexhaustible power.

"MOOH! DIE IN THE NAME OF LUCY'S NICE BODY!"

Or maybe it's just the hormones acting up…

Lucy didn't know if she should cheer the pervert onwards to greater feats of destruction or if she should be grossed out that whenever the cow paused in his tantrums, the henchmen also paused to stare at her body too.

_M-maybe I shouldn't have decided on a cheerleader outfit on my travels..._

At least the cow was causing a distraction for Bora, who almost lost body parts because of his initial shock over the actions of the Celestial Spirit. Erza the Fairy Queen forcing him into a corner with her lightning-fast Reequip Magic which left him completely on the defensive.

"Lucy! Take care of the trash! I'll take down Bora!" Erza shouted behind her as she reequipped her twin daggers and began to assault a suddenly out-balanced Bora.

"Leave them to me!" With that Lucy called Taurus back and began the incantation to open another gate.

"Gate of the Crab, I open thee!" A crab-like humanoid spirit then appeared in front of her, clad in a blue striped polo, black slacks and wielding identical razor-sharp scissors on each hand.

"What do you want cut, _ebi?_" Everyone except Erza and Lucy felt their jaws hit the floor, Lucy being used to the crab's idiosyncrasies and Erza being too focused on turning Bora into sushi to care.

"Take them out Cancer!"

"_Hai, ebi_" He said, proceeding to flit around the room rapidly, taking down henchmen using his scissors to cut either their hair or their clothes, or just taking them out using the scissors to make numerous non-fatal wounds on their faces.

"Ahh! My HAIR!"

"MY CLOTHES, THEY'RE GONE!"

"GAHHH!"

"MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!"

Bora yelped in fright as Erza suddenly appeared in front of him in a blur, her daggers already on the path to taking his arms off. He threw himself backwards and succeeded in avoiding the loss of his arms once again, opening up his magic circle to counter attack even as Erza recovered and pulled out of the way.

"Prominence Typhoon!"

The wall in front of him then proceeded to blow up as the fire spell completely missed Titania by a mile. Dropping into a crouch, Erza then sprang from the side to lunge at the defenceless Bora, who managed to sidestep her and call up more Prominence Typhoons at her, destroying even more walls around them, putting her with her back towards the open sea. The room was being destroyed as they fought, even though Erza was not even using half her power, and Bora was a low-class mage to begin with.

A twinkle just outside of Erza's vision caused her to start. _What the-_

Suddenly a bright light came from the town that blinded all who looked in its direction, Bora was blinded by the light even as Erza turned her head away quickly from the source of the commotion; all the activity on the room ceased as the light began to grow in intensity, causing all of them to lose sight of the room and its occupants, even as they felt a massive surge of magic power from the town.

_Wh-what is this light? Such magical power! It rivals even Laxus' and Mystogan's strength!_ Erza thought as she saw no more but white all around her, the light completely covering her whole being.

Suddenly, the light vanished, leaving all who saw it dazed by the sudden lack of light overloading their eyes. They blinked once or twice, uncertain of what to make of the strange phenomenon, as when they looked at the port it was undamaged from the massive power surge, or in any way changed at all. One dominant thought was being asked in all their minds.

_What the hell just happened?_

Erza cast a glance worriedly at the town, before deciding enough was enough. It was time to end it.

"Reequip! Flame Empress!"

* * *

A whistle rent the suddenly silent air as a figure dropped beside the young girl, who didn't flinch or start when the figure made its presence known, or rather; it made its presence known to those who couldn't comprehend its power. The figure resolved itself into the body of a young man with wavy brown hair and a lean muscle build. He was clad in a black tuxedo with the jacket left opened and the dress shirt underneath untucked with black leather shoes and black gloves to complete the ensemble. His eyes were an amused emerald as he surveyed the effects of the magic spell on the populace of the town using his mage-sight, confirming that the spell worked perfectly, that all the townspeople on the port and on boats besides their objective were asleep. One gloved hand held a katana with a black hilt and sheath while the other was leisurely tucked inside the pocket of his trousers. He smiled amusedly.

"_Yare, yare_. Loki, couldn't you have turned down the brightness of that spell, it's so… blinding. I forgot to bring my sunglasses to protect myself from the brilliance." He said jokingly to his companion who merely raised an eyebrow at his presence before beginning to move towards the sea.

"Don't joke at a time like this Connor, I know for a fact that you keep those infernal glasses wherever you went." She retorted without turning, though her amusement was evident in her voice. He mimed a bullet hitting his heart and pretended to swoon.

"OH! You wound my heart my sister!"

Suddenly a surge of magic occurred behind her, and he caught up, now sporting a stylish pair of glasses with ebony frames. They went towards the port together, with Loki, the older sibling, having to hold on to her brother's arm tight as they went through magic stores filled with sleeping people just begging to be ransacked. He whined even as she dragged him away, gushing about the possible rare treasures they might find in a secluded corner of the world. After walking for a while they were now on the port itself, looking at the boat that was currently being destroyed by magical spells. The rain still fell, harder than ever as she looked up towards the heavens and sighed heavily.

"It's nearly time for the main player to appear. From here on out, Here be dragons." She said to her now solemn brother. He nodded, his eyes now showing the strength that he used to become one of the vaunted S-class mages of their guild.

"Here be dragons"

With that, Loki was then left alone as Connor suddenly blurred out of sight, his impressive magic power ,now fully released, causing his speed to reach superhuman extents by sheer power alone. She then looked up at the sky even as she slowly floated up in the air like an angel, pain shining brightly through her previously expressionless face as she remembered the day which she was taken away from her home to a world of pain and loneliness.

"Here be dragons" She whispered into the silent air, her eyes turning into chips of ice as she flitted out of comprehension as well, her magic taking on a dragon-like shape as she disappeared from normal senses.

In the distance, under a brightly lit streetlamp, seven men were lying on the ground, their minds shredded to pieces by the mental assault of the girl, condemned to be forever insane, quivering like steaming sacks of grey matter that they thought themselves to be.

* * *

"Flame Empress!"

Erza had enough of playing around. She had her fill of toying with the _scum_ standing there in front of her, casting weak flames everywhere; he was nowhere the level where _he_ was before he disappeared. She decided it was time to end it immediately, as she was also worried about the bright light that had suddenly engulfed all of them in that short while. It didn't have any visible effect on them or the port, but she wasn't naïve enough to think that the light was just a fluke. She had to make sure that the light was not in any way harmful to any of the people there, and find the source of the light itself.

She now rushed immediately at Bora, who once more threw flames at her, which she now burst through without any damage at all. She then saw Bora's jaw hit the floor once again as she was about to hit him with her flame sword.

Suddenly Bora disappeared with a pop even as Erza rushed towards her. The real Bora appearing behind her with a magic dagger he had hidden in his boot until the perfect moment.

_A clone!_

She turned around and tried to defend herself from the unexpected attack, but she knew that she couldn't block or dodge in time. She was about to give up hope seeing that the dagger was coated with poison when suddenly a hand clamped tightly on Bora's reaching hand. The hand belonged to a pink-haired boy who was currently staring at Bora steadily.

All activity on the room slowly ceased as the people began to realize a new person had joined the fray, saving Titania from certain death from poisoning. Lucy was shocked and wondered who the boy was, while the henchmen were furious that the boy stopped their leader from finishing off the Fairy Queen. Erza herself was torn between relief at being saved, joy at finally seeing Natsu, and rage at his audacity to leave Fairy Tail; she was about to open her mouth to verbally berate him like she used to when she noticed his attire, and her words died in her throat.

He was wearing a sleeveless red shirt with gold trimmings and flame designs, red full-length trousers and his old sandals; his Fairy Tail guild mark was gone, replaced by a red dragon's head; but the biggest change Erza could see in him was his personality. When Natsu once excluded determination and bright intensity, he now secreted quiet confidence and burning passion to all who were near him. His eyes were no longer wide-open and happy; instead they were all steel and fire, his face showing disgust as he beheld the quavering Bora in front of him.

"Tch" His voice sounded like a whip in the tense silence. He stared at Bora and shook his head, disappointed.

"I come all the way here on a job to kill some slave-driving bastard and all I get for that is you?" A sigh escaped from his lips. "Just die already"

Suddenly Bora screamed as intense flames engulfed Natsu's hand that was holding Bora tightly. His hand slowly began disintegrating from the intense heat even as the fire spread throughout his whole body, the fire burning him inside out. His screams grew louder as Natsu pumped more flames to his target, reducing him to a badly-charred head and ashes in a matter of three seconds. He took the head and stared straight at Erza, who was frozen in shock over what just transpired in the past few minutes.

"Long time no see, Erza"

* * *

So yeah! Please review my work so far so I'll know the inaccuracies like those above and address them to fill up any plot holes, or if you just want to praise the work and give me more motivation feel free please XD

**Mind Magic: Curse of Morpheus** - A spell from the Lost Magic of Mind Manipulation, it causes a number of people to fall asleep, the caster being able to decide what kinds of dreams the victim would experience. The area of effect of the spell is largely based on the magic power of the caster, the most powerful practitioners said to be able to put to sleep over ten thousand people.

Cheers,

Creleuth


	6. Guilt, cease and stay your wrath

Alright, someone brought to my attention in the reviews that the mantra was getting slightly repetitive. I have to admit, I didn't notice how cultish Natsu seemed to sound in that last line so I decided to mod that part and put it somewhere in this chapter. I know you guys would recognize it the moment you'll see it so I'll just proceed with the replies to the comments XD

**ChedderChez** – first of all, thank you so much for reviewing my fanfic! I never would have noticed those little things had you not told me XD. Anyway, the 'here be dragons' phrase is explained a bit more in this chapter, and I'll be removing that stupid line sometime later, so cheers! It's the least I could do for your support!

**Darkhuntressxir –** No, it's not a female version of Loki (the anime I watched had his name as Loke so forgive my mistake). She is a member of the dark guild Natsu is part of, and I'll be cramming her backstory somewhere in the chapters that'll follow this one. (The ones who'll be reading my Lost Dragon Arc are forbidden to spoil her past! Haha, kidding)

Now that those are over with, PRESENTING THE NEXT CHAPTER!

* * *

Chapter 6:

Guilt, cease and stay your wrath

"_**The Sun dawns, red with blood; knight grieves; heart shattered. The surge of the torrent, fatal sparks; Angel and Assassin as kin; Feathers encase the raging flames, the rise of Dragons!"**_

Time stood still, itself seemingly shocked at the sudden and unexpected atrocity committed within its realm. Henchmen and Fairy mage alike froze, the scene thrown into sharp clarity as the ashes of the once-human Charmer fell from the stranger's hand, each particle falling ever so slowly. The stranger didn't seem to notice or deign to be bothered by the gravity of his action, proceeding to grab the charred head and shoving it into a small sack slung over his shoulder.

_Wh-who is this guy? How could he just kill another human with so little remorse?_ Lucy thought; her eyes wide and scared as the stranger then looked at Erza and tell her something she couldn't hear.

Erza herself was still as stone, her mind unable to process the events that just took place right in front of her eyes. Was this really Natsu? The brash, determined idiot she knew two years before? She then felt the gap inside her heart begin to ache once again as she visited memories of the happy times they had before that fateful day, unable to reconcile between the annoying brat from before to this, this _monster_ that stood before her.

"_Yare yare_" A male voice sounded from the open wall.

They turned and saw a young man with wavy brown hair clad in a tuxedo standing on the edge of the ruined room. His emerald eyes were amused as they took in all their shocked and confused faces as he lovingly touched the sheath of his katana while his other hand was tucked into his front pocket. He took one good look at Bora's charred head and shook his own head slightly as if he was disappointed and called out to Natsu.

"_Ne_, Natsu! Are we sure that's our target? He seemed like a total pansy who probably couldn't scratch me if I stood still and gave him a shot! I'd check the spell's accuracy if I were you." His tone actually sounded disappointed. Natsu turned his head to look at the newcomer before, to Erza's shock, smiling slightly and retorting with an amused voice.

"Are you sure you should be questioning your sister's mage-sense Connor? I admire your bravery"

The teenager suddenly paled, sweating bullets his brain suddenly caught up with what he just said. He frantically turned his head this way and that as if to look for any sign of his sister before laughing awkwardly and scratching his head nervously, apparently relieved that this 'sister' of his was nowhere within earshot.

"What's so funny Connor?" A girl then appeared behind the boy, who turned his head so fast they could have sworn that they heard a crack from the boy's neck.

"Nothing _nee-san_! I was just telling Natsu here what an amazing job you did tracking down such a weak signal from so far away! Right Natsu?" He turned to him for help.

"He was insulting your magic." His 'supporter' deadpanned. Busted.

The air then began to feel thick and unpleasant as the girl turned to look at the teenager who was alternately cursing the pink-haired stranger and making apologies to a seemingly angry sibling. The rest of them felt as if they were in a dream that was so surreal they weren't sure anymore if it really was a dream. Suddenly the banter between the three newcomers came to a halt as a certain red-haired beauty, with unshed tears in her eyes, spoke out; her voice breaking as if she couldn't believe what she was looking at.

"N-Natsu?"

* * *

Part of her wanted to deny it, yet she couldn't keep telling to herself that the boy right in front of her was _real_. At the same time, if she couldn't deny that it was _him_ that stood there, then she also couldn't deny that it was him who killed Bora without so much as an apology or a trace of regret. She didn't know what to do; hell, she didn't know what to feel right now; the one person she was looking for happened to come to her when she wasn't actively looking for him. She knew she should be disgusted and repulsed by the atrocity Natsu just committed without qualms, but she couldn't leave any space in her heart as it was filled with joy at finally seeing him again.

She desperately wanted to touch him, to hug the living daylights out of him, and then yell at him for leaving them like that so long ago, and then maybe punish him when they finally returned to their guild. Erza was so absorbed in her emotions that she failed to catch the words that the three people who so suddenly entered and changed the tide of battle so swiftly; instead she was busy drinking in Natsu's presence as if her life depended on it. She hasn't been this happy in two years.

Erza dimly knew that she needed to control her emotions before they consumed her, but she didn't know what emotion to control and what to let loose. She couldn't deny Natsu being in front of her, therefore she couldn't deny that he had taken a life, therefore she should scold him right?

_Arghh! My head's so messed up right now I can think straight!_

Suddenly Natsu looked at her and smiled slightly, making her heart beat wildly as she stared into his olive-green eyes, hopelessly entranced.

"Long time no see, _Ne_ Erza?"

She blinked, and suddenly launched herself at Natsu, her arms encircling his neck as she pulled herself against him and hugged him tightly, all thoughts and possible reactions halted as tears now ran freely on her face. She sobbed quietly and hugged him tighter, not noticing a sudden dark aura emanating from the young girl or the girl's brother slowly edging away from the inevitable eruption.

"I'm so happy, I don't know why or where or what but I don't care right now. You're here Natsu" She murmured quietly as she continued to hug an increasingly nervous Natsu, if the dark aura from a certain blond girl was any indication.

It was then that the henchmen finally got it in their heads that the pink-haired boy had killed their ringleader. Charging with a great cry, the remaining henchmen then rushed Natsu who was being hugged by an oblivious Erza.

"KILL HIM! AVENGE BORA-SAN!"

Their charge alerted Natsu who immediately detached himself from Erza and flitted behind her; his foot sweeping out and spewing flames in an arc, burning those who were caught in its angle. Three people who were about to hit him from his right as he recovered were suddenly split into many different slices, a white-clothed figure blurring into existence beside him as the girl glared hatefully at the remnants of her victims, a shimmering aura of magic emanating from her body.

"No one touches Natsu except me!"

To his left the four people who were also about to attack Natsu were intercepted by the tuxedo-clad boy who stabbed all of them in the heart seemingly at the same time. He then sheathed his sword and took a ready stance, his other hand hovering over the hilt of the katana, ready to cut anything that got in his way. His face was dark and forbidding as he glared daggers at the slavers who were beginning to regret ever stepping foot in this boat.

"Regret and pray for mercy from what god you believe in…" He said, his katana glowing with a golden light as he used Reequip Magic to summon his favoured weapon: his _Shinigami_ scythe. The scythe was a massive weapon made of ebony, the shaft elegantly designed with carvings of skulls and running black blood, the end of the scythe sporting a blade of black steel supported by a frame of the dark wood, the edges jagged and lightly coated with poison to cause maximum damage with only a passing graze.

"…because you have reached evil waters…" Natsu continued, putting his right arm forward as it was encased in intense flames from hand to shoulder. Crouching slightly, he put his arm back as he prepared to spring, the flames in his arm growing in heat and size as it billowed out behind him.

"…and here be Dragons!" The third member of the group, the girl finished the mantra; flicking her gloved hands. With that, the three of them launched themselves forward, killing intent bursting from their bodies. There was no pride, no arrogance in any of their voices as they said their guild code; those human concepts were made useless by their disillusions with the world; each and every one of their guild having cast away those useless ideals, preferring instead to use any means within their power to protect those they held dear. In Connor's case, it was his sister; in Loki's, it was Natsu; in Natsu's, it was his _nakama _and Loki.

They were a family, and family stayed together no matter what happened.

* * *

True to their word, the three _nakama_ smashed into the group of sailors like dragons eager to devour their prey. Natsu used his flames to burn and incinerate all of the sailors who dared to step in front of him, burning them all in a cone of lightest red; Connor twirled his scythe around, beheading all who were too slow and failed to escape his range and slicing all others; the unnamed girl seemingly using her bare hands to dice her opponents as she moved her hands like that of a composer of a legendary piece. They finished punishing all of their opponents in only a short amount of time.

Lucy felt she was going to be sick; they had killed all of those people! She wanted to scrub her eyes out after seeing what happened to those poor souls, wanted to just wake up and find out it was all a dream after all, wanted to scream that this didn't just happen in front of her eyes.

Erza had finally gotten her head to think correctly after she saw Natsu and his- _nakama_? – slaughter all those defenceless people without remorse. She agreed that they were evil people, but why did they feel the need to murder them? She felt a chill go up her spine as the blond girl then looked at her as if to say: _This could have been you…_

She couldn't understand Natsu's reasoning for killing all of those people, what had they done to him to warrant such inhumane retaliation. She wanted him to explain to her why he just killed over twenty people along with his 'friends'. She decided that it was time for her to ask; however, as she opened her mouth to ask, a blue cat with one wing descended from the top of the room where a stray spell destroyed the roof and landed on Natsu's shoulder. It spoke hesitantly.

"_Ne,_ Natsu? Are all the bad guys dead now?"

Natsu took Happy into his arms and hugged him, as if to ward off any evil people from ever hurting Happy while responding, "Yes Happy, they're all dead now." The cat then turned to face his 'father'.

"You'll never leave me with people like those ever again? You'll protect me from anything right Natsu?"

"I promise, just like I promised _her_ Happy. I'll never let anything harm you ever again." Natsu said as a single tear went down his cheek, unwittingly showing Happy's face to Erza who became shocked once more.

Erza couldn't believe that the cat that looked so scared and lost was the same cat she last saw all that time ago. As Natsu changed to become a monster, so did Happy change to a child who experienced horrors she could only guess at. His face was filled with anxiety as he trembled, seemingly afraid of something; a deep scar ran over his nose, rendering him unable to smell ever again; a portion of his right ear was missing, as if something clamped down and twisted it out. She remembered the fact that he only have one wing a while ago and wondered, with growing horror, if the other wing was wrenched out of the lovable cat.

But nothing prepared her to the internal change in Happy. He avoided ever looking at the corpses of the dead sailors, as if he was afraid of reliving some terrifying memories. His face was in a constant state of child-like fear, always looking around as if to catch any of the shadows moving out of place. Even his voice became little and he sounded scared every time he talked now. She felt herself on the verge of another breakdown as she beheld the bittersweet reunions she was experiencing right now.

_What happened to Happy?_ It was then that the blue cat noticed her staring at him and he yelped and suddenly hid in Natsu's chest.

"_Ne_, Natsu, let's go back home now. We finished the job right? Let's go home; I don't want to stay around with strangers…" Happy said, poking out of his shoulder to check if they were still there, yelping again and hiding in his chest again. Surprisingly, it was the girl who answered.

"_Hai_, we'll be going back now, no use in staying here at all." Somehow, Erza knew that the girl didn't mean her; she just wanted to go home as soon as possible. Natsu nodded and grabbed the sack carrying Bora's head and started moving towards his companions who were waiting by the big hole on the side of the ship. It was then that Erza's voice finally began to work again.

"_Matte!_ Natsu, come back with me! It's been two years, surely you don't hate Elfman and Mira after all that time? Come back to us Natsu! We've been missing you ever since _that _day!" Natsu stopped while listening to her talk. She decided to continue.

"Come back with me, Natsu! Mira and Gray and Elfman and the others are waiting for you to come back! We don't care about everything that you did when you were away, all that matters is you come back to us!"

A heavy silence permeated the room as Erza waited with bated breath for Natsu to turn around and walk to her; his _nakama_ were silently watching him, as if allowing him to choose if he wanted to return with them or with her. Lucy herself was looking with fascination at Natsu, finally realizing that he was _the_ Salamander of Fairy Tail.

After what seemed like an eternity to Erza, Natsu slowly turned his head in her direction.

"Is that my scarf, Erza?" It was a seemingly innocuous question, but to those who knew the pink-haired mage, it was a question with a dangerous edge to it. She shook her head.

"Good. I didn't want to have to kill a Fairy today"

* * *

Alrighty!

Same modus operandi as before people! Please review the work, thanks in advance!

Yes, I decided to give Erza a little crush on Natsu, oh what the hell, I made Erza love Natsu, happy?

I finally decided! Lisanna is still alive! That practically guarantees that this fic will at least reach the conclusion of the Edolas Arc.

For those of you who hate me for what I did to Happy or that I made Natsu against rejoining Fairy Tail or both, well don't. Happy becoming mentally unstable is key to why Natsu becomes darker and darker in the LDA (Lost dragon arc), so sorry if I actually want continuity XD. Also, Natsu has a specific gripe about Fairy Tail that's shared by his entire guild. (Hint: It's about the previously untouched consequences of Fairy Tail's excessive actions)

Cheers,

Creleuth

P.S. Don't get freaked out by Loki or what she implies in the scenes above, it's part of her mindset after her tragic past (That I'll be showing sometime in the near future so stop pelting me with popcorn dammit!)


	7. A Day in Heaven, A Day in Hell

I'm so very sorry about the long wait guys! A combination of typhoons, exams and lack of inspiration have made me not faithful to completing this story, but I'll try my best to make regular updates now!

Without further ado, here is the NEXT CHAPTER!

* * *

Chapter 7:

Knight, encase thy heart with broken steel

"_**O God, Trickster and Deceiver, cast from me this pitiful heart. Death! Vengeance! The crown of Tears weighs heavy, an abyss black as night…"**_

Smile.

Nod.

Ignore.

Wait, smile again.

She's asleep, you can remove that now.

No wait, she's waking up, did time just skip?

Erza was a block of stone the entire trip towards Magnolia. She tried her hardest to keep up a happy front for Lucy but it always cracked whenever she fell asleep; Erza would then be unable to fight off the tears and hurt that were slowly killing her from the inside.

_No way, that couldn't have been Natsu. He would never say anything like that, not even if he hated anyone… No way… Natsu, what happened to you? What happened to Happy? What have you done to yourself?_

If there was one thing she was sure of right this moment, that _person_ would never become part of Fairy Tail, even if he _was_ Natsu. She saw it in his eyes, full of hate and rage, eyes that wished nothing more than to kill and give the pain he was feeling to others.

_Flashback_

"… kill a Fairy today"

Time stood still once again.

Erza was shocked, her eyes widened like that of an owl's, at Natsu's last statement. She didn't believe that he just said that, no way that Natsu would just utter the one taboo to any member of Fairy Tail.

He didn't give her a chance to respond. He suddenly looked thoughtful and said:

"It would have been better if _Elfman_ or _Mira_ were here though…"

Her heart sped up, and hope flared in her chest. Maybe, just _maybe_, Natsu would forgive them, even if he didn't want to come back to Fairy Tail; there were years ahead of them, and she might still be able to convince him. But right now, she had to take what she could, and hope for the best.

Then her hope was shattered without remorse when Natsu suddenly looked back at her again and said with an evil smile:

"… if it was either of them, I would have killed them."

"Natsu, let's go. We've already dallied enough as it is." The white-clothed girl suddenly said, appearing beside Natsu and laying a hand on his shoulder. Natsu immediately stopped his magic and relaxed, but its potency was still felt all across the room; Lucy herself feeling dizzy from all the magic in the air, and Erza barely able to keep a clear head due to being too near to the source.

"Tch, fine Loki. Let's go, wouldn't want to stay here in the presence of two Fairies." Natsu said as he turned about and stalked to the exit, the white-clothed girl moving to follow him before suddenly stopping and leaning nearer to Erza to whisper to her, a truly terrifying look on her face.

"Natsu is mine… If you dare try to take him away from me, I will make your time in that little tower seem like a picnic…" With that, the three enigmatic wizards disappeared into the night, leaving behind a dizzy Fairy-to-be and a shocked Knight, surrounded by steaming corpses.

_End of Flashback_

She touched the scarf that was still wrapped around her neck in a vain attempt to make herself pull together, they were nearing Magnolia now and Lucy would be seeing her first sight of the guild hall, it wouldn't do to ruin her moment of happiness with a year old problem.

She sighed, and looked at the cheerleader (she called her that in the safety of her mind) who was sprawled at the couch opposite her, mouth open and a dribble oozing down her chin. She was so like Natsu when he was tired, except Natsu would be sick and hanging off the window of the train because of his hatred for transportation… No, it wouldn't do anyone good if she dwelt on his drastic change in personality, she had to focus dammit!

_What should I tell Gray and the others?_ _Should I lie and say the latest rumors were just that, rumors? But then they'd know about it in a few days, the scene of over a dozen gristly corpses would make sure of that…_ _So what should I tell them…_

A sudden hand on her shoulder jarred Erza from her contemplation, a shocked look on her face as she whirled to the source of the contact. Lucy had her hand on Erza's shoulder, a concerned look on her face, while the rest of the passengers were disembarking already. Erza blinked.

"Oh, we're here?" She asked, feeling stupid for not noticing. She immediately went to grab her luggage from the top of their seats. She would know if she should tell them about Natsu later.

* * *

(_Lucy's POV_)

"_Hai,_ are you alright Erza?" Lucy asked, squirming. She saw that Erza-san was sad and seemed to have her own world ever since meeting that - that _man_ (if he could even be called as such). She shuddered silently, recalling the evil aura of that _monster_, that monster that killed all those people without remorse; and his "_nakama_", that white devil and the shinigami, who killed as easily as him.

She knew that that _man_ had a connection with Erza-san, why else would they have acted like that if that was not the case? But Lucy wondered how such an amazing woman like Erza-san could ever have been anything but enemies to the pink-haired mage.

Erza-san had finally managed to get all her luggage ready (all ten feet of it), and they began the long trek to Fairy Tail. For the time being, Lucy forgot her thoughts about the evil mage and was overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of Magnolia.

_It's such a lively place! So many people are laughing and talking without a care in the world! _She thought, amazed even though she already saw many cities like this. She saw the beautiful buildings and the bountiful marketplace and the lively people and the mage shops all over the place; the amazing church in the middle of the town itself, with the bells clanging at the noon time, and the gigantic guild hall that was hidden wayyyy at the back.

She could barely contain her excitement over her good luck: She was going to be a member of Fairy Tail!

* * *

While Lucy was dragging the Titania, Erza Scarlet, all over Magnolia, in a place far removed from such festivities…

The town of Sinea was a small but prosperous town, everyone was content and the children spent the days wandering around the massive forest that gave livelihood to most of the townspeople, or swimming in the river that ran through the town. They had no mages guild, no guards, for who wanted to sack a town that had no valuables in any houses? The people were content and didn't care to listen to the news from other parts of Fiore, instead preferring to keep to themselves and shun any strangers that came to their town. It was a peaceful, idyllic place…

no longer.

Smoke curled upwards, as if attempting in vain to escape the horrific scene below it, to escape responsibility from the massacre below it.

The river that was running cleanly and happily through the town was red with blood and heavy with the bodies of children and adults alike; all the houses have been painted with red blood, the laughter of children and women silenced forever from this place. The forest was the scene of another grisly crime, the women who lived in the village were dragged there, kicking and screaming for help, and raped again and again by heavily cloaked mages, who casted the trees into impaling the women through the spines once they were satisfied. The men were spellbound to hack their children to bloody pieces and throw them in the river, and then kill themselves in a bloody orgy of death, tendrils of smoke guiding their bodies in this horrifying act of murder. The sun no longer shone over the city, preferring instead to hide the shame that was man from the eyes of its kin, the spell made over the city ensuring its compliance with the wishes of the maker. The town was devoid of life except for the members of the dark guild who perpetrated this travesty.

And one child, hidden from sight and sense by the spell that her mother wove around her, the woman caught and raped and mutilated by the mages because she exhausted all her magic in protecting her child. The spell was a Lost Art, a part of the Arc of Embodiment that was lost even to its own practitioners, allowing the recipient to be utterly invisible to any type of sensing, from clairvoyance to the basic human eyes. As such, the child was treated to the sight of her father and uncles and friends killing her friends and themselves, and her mother and the other women in the village being raped and mutilated; and it scarred her mind for life.

Now the dark guild left the town to find another town to decimate and ruin, while the little child was left in the shadow of the town that was once her home, but was now home to her demons and nightmares; and thus did the child start her journey of revenge, uttering two words over and over again until she fell asleep: Dragon's Pride.

* * *

Hey everybody! Sorry for the long wait, again! As you can see this is a shorter chapter than the others, this is mainly just an interlude chapter to prep the characters for the events to come, hopefully I can update regularly now, and keep the quality and word count up! XD

FYI, the girl is an OC (Don't kill me!)


	8. End of the Beginning

Hiyas People! Alright, as promised, here is the next installment of my fanfic!

All replies to reviews will be henceforth be found after the chapters in order to lessen the clutter before the actual story, and I seem to find a bi-weekly update schedule to be more to my taste but I'm not sure yet, so stay tuned folks!

* * *

-SFX-

_Thoughts_

"Speech"

"_Japanese words_"

"MASSIVE SHOUTING"

* * *

Chapter 8:

End of the Beginning

"_**Darkness Falls, Sun Rises! New Journeys, new Beginnings; End of Night, Grief, Rage! The White Crown lies upon a new head! Knight, Prepare for the War in the Horizon!**_"

The hall was maybe two or three stories high, situated in the very back of Magnolia, with a turban-like object at the top and slightly curved roofs, the guild crest displayed prominently on the third floor and the name spelled out in bold letters on top of the front door, the guild hall made for an odd and slightly intimidating sight…

But it was home.

And it was this building that a Celestial Mage and the Fairy Queen went to after Lucy's impromptu sightseeing, something that Erza did nothing to stop due to her reluctance to face her guildmates once again, but alas, every good thing must come to an end.

This was Erza's primary thought as Lucy and she stopped in front of the door leading into the guild. She inwardly cringed at what she was about to reveal to her guildmates, but there was nothing she could do, so she put on a (what she hoped was) a welcoming smile on her face and turned to Lucy.

"Alright! Lucy, welcome to Fairy Tail!" She said, sweeping her arm out to push the door inwards, showing the homely and welcoming sight of the guild hall's interior-

As a dark shape flew out of the door and bowled Lucy over.

* * *

(_Lucy POV_)

_OWWWW! What the hell was that? _Lucy thought to herself as she blearily opened an eye; to her shock, the image resolved itself to the form of a man with dark blue hair and black pants, upside down, facing her, their faces only a few inches apart, topless.

"Kyaaaahh!" She screamed suddenly, hitting the guy straight in the face and sending him further from the guild. He bounced again and again for three times before stopping, now with little chibi topless guys going in a circle over his head, eyes replaced by swirling circles.

"What the- Gray?" Erza suddenly stuttered out, currently shocked at the events that just happened.

Lucy then stared at Erza, then at the guy still seeing stars, then Erza again, then to Gray-

_WAIT! DID I JUST PUNCH OUT GRAY FULLBUSTER?!_

She felt so embarrassed! She just punched one of the vaunted S-class mages in her idol guild! What should she do, should she try to wake him up then apologize? Or should she run? Should she pray that something would make her melt to the ground?

Her musings were interrupted when Gray Fullbuster, Ice King of Fairy Tail, stood up, all evidence of his injury gone and a massive scowl on his face. He stared at the shadows that were the interior of the guild hall and started shouting, apparently not noticing Lucy or Erza.

"What the fuck Elfman! I didn't look at Mira like THAT!"

A massive shape then appeared in the doorway, and Lucy started feeling scared at the man that towered over her. He had a scar that extended from the right side of his face to his right eye, long white hair that was styled into spikes and a dark blue jacket and pants.

"A Man doesn't strip while looking at a woman! If you're a man, then you act like a MAN Gray!" He replied, yelling his words at the top of his lungs while pointing an accusing figure at the ice mage.

"Oh yeah? Well man THIS!" Gray shouted, suddenly appearing in front of Elfman Strauss, and kicking him in the face, causing both of them to disappear into the inside of the guild, leaving Lucy and Erza behind.

A gust of wind blew by, blissfully ignorant of the events that just transpired.

"_A-Ano,_ Erza-_san_, what the hell just happened?" Lucy asked, her mind unable to comprehend just what happened. She turned to Erza to see what her reply was, but was silenced by the dark and foreboding aura that was emanating from her.

"Stupid little… annoying pests… immature…" Erza mumbled as she started marching up to the guild doors, the scarf she was wearing flying every which way due to the dark aura she was showing, her face promising eternal torture to whatever came in her way. She entered the guild hall and suddenly everything seemed to cease making noise, before Erza's voice started pouring out of the doors in their highest volume.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE YOU FOOLS!"

Left alone, a Celestial Wizard stood in front of the guild, a gust of wind blowing about her as she mentally debated with herself whether or not to go in yet or not. A large crash sounded inside the guild hall and she decided she could admire the scenery for a few more minut- another crash and Erza started shouting again- hours.

* * *

_(Meanwhile, in a faraway part of Fiore, at the same time Erza was disciplining the guild members)_

Connor yawned widely. They've been travelling for the better part of two days to a new job that their guild master gave them that moment they set foot back in Dillenia, something about investigating a sudden surge of dark magic that occurred some ways away in a remote village.

"Oi, are either of you guys tired yet?" He asked his sister and their other teammate. He still remembered the first time Natsu came to their guild, soaking wet from the rain and bent down as if the weight of the world was on him, Happy sleeping on his shoulder.

_He's come a long way from that weak, pathetic man now_. He thought privately.

His sister, Loki, snorted quietly at her brother. They've been travelling nonstop for two days true, but they experienced much worse travels in their two years of being a team, one of the strongest teams in their guild. They were the team that Master preferred to send when an unknown threat was showing itself, Team Icarus, the troubleshooter team. It consisted of Connor, Loki, Natsu and Happy, all S-class mages, all renowned members of their guild, all people with broken pasts.

She already knew Natsu's story, having heard it from him, and knew that no matter what would happen, she would stay at his side forever. It was a given that Connor would also follow them, given the past of brother and sister.

Loki was a slave girl when she was young, sold by their parents when they had no more money to spend on their debts to other people, all to provide for her little brother and not her. She was raised in various places as she was sold and bought by lustful men and monsters, all of which liked having a slave girl who couldn't fight back. She was abused and molested by her owners and grew to hate humanity, hate her family who left her to the tender mercies of fickle men, hate Life for making her live even when she wanted to die so badly.

What her owner when she was eleven didn't know was that she was a mage, given a block on her magic by her parents to hide her true nature, and that the abuses she took and the grief she experienced slowly weathered the seal until at last, it broke and she gained access to her magic, Arc of Mind. With her newly discovered powers she began to wreak her vengeance to the men who took advantage of her when she was helpless, killing all of them and gaining a massive bounty on her head, causing her to start running for two years.

Then, while fleeing from the Rune Guards once again, she met Connor, who left their parents once he knew what really happened to his sister, and they managed to evade the Rune Guards and wander into Dillenia, where they found the guild waiting for them with open arms, from then on, brother and sister have been inseparable from each other.

Natsu didn't bother even replying to Connor, he was too focused on finishing their mission quickly so they could return to Dillenia in time for the memorial; that said, he will finish this mission thoroughly and efficiently.

_I already failed Lisanna and Happy once, I won't do so again_. He thought viciously, looking at the sleeping figure of his 'son' on his shoulder.

_Lisanna, please forgive me for making Happy cry… I killed all those who did this to Happy, I burned them and threw their ashes to the winds, like how I'm going to kill Elfman when I see him again for doing that to you… Just wait Lisanna, I'll avenge you… Then I can die and we can be together again…_

* * *

They reached the end of the forest and finally saw the town, or what was left of it. It was horrible, the bodies of men and children were everywhere, blood was spilled over the ground and the river ran red, smoke was still rising from some of the houses and fires were still burning here and there; everywhere there were signs of magic, down to the very air they were breathing.

Natsu, Loki and Connor stood at the edge of the town, eyes hooded and faces grim. They saw images like these before, sometimes they even made scenes like this to protect their family, but there was no purpose in this massacre, no ulterior motive except to have _fun_. It was repulsive.

They separated, Natsu going to the center of town, Connor going to the curious looking trees in the distance, Loki going to the riverside.

It was raining.

When Connor finally realized what the 'trees' really were, he puked.

The 'trees' were actually sticks sticking out from the ground, with the bodies of women and girls impaled through their spines on them. Their bodies were covered in white and red, faces contorted in abject horror in their final moments, as if some unspeakable things were done to them before they died.

Disgusted at the sight, Connor used his Reequip Magic to summon his Firedrake, a rifle that fired massive fireballs at his target, and proceeded to incinerate the bodies to send them to whatever afterlife they believed in, the sound of a hundred crying souls resonating in his head.

_Why would someone do this? What sick bastard took pleasure in the pain of impaling someone to a massive stick? _He thought savagely as the flames licked the bloody bodies and turned them to ash.

A sudden cry shook the air and made Time stand still.

"OKAAA-SAN!"

Connor turned and saw a little girl running towards the bonfire that was cracking merrily at its fuel. His eyes widening at the sight, he used his vast speed to grab the girl before she could jump into the flames, pulling the girl away, crying and shouting in his arms, he retreated to a safe distance.

"NOO! OKA-SAN! NO, LET ME GO! MY MOTHER'S NOT YET DEAD! SHE CAN'T BE DEAD! NO!"

The girl screamed as she squirmed in his iron grip.

"It's okay little girl, it's okay. Shush, your mother is in a better place now-"

"NO! LET GO OF ME! SHE'S NOT DEAD! SHE'S NOT DEAD!" she countered, her face streaked with tears and rain, indistinguishable from each other, her eyes were red from crying and her black hair damp and flying every which way from struggling. She was wearing a light blue dress that reached up to her knees and a blue bracelet with engraved wings on her right wrist. She sobbed and sniffed as she continued.

"She's not dead… She can't be… She promised we would stay together forever… She wouldn't lie!"

Connor did not have a lot of experience with crying girls, his sister being a veritable Ice Queen in that department, so he was at a loss on what to say. Nevertheless, he tried his best.

"Shh, everything's going to be alright… Your mother won't ever leave you you know? She's going to keep watching over you until you two can be together."

The girl slowly turned her head to face Connor and her eyes were filled with grief, anger, and strangely, hope.

"(sniff) Really? Mother will watch over me? No matter what happens?"

"Of course she will, you're her little girl right?"

The girl then slowly nodded and said, "Can you help me?"

Connor nodded solemnly, "Of course"

The girl then turned to fully face him and smiled.

"Thank you…"

Blood suddenly burst in the air.

* * *

Loki felt the burst of magic from Connor and the flashes of red that were his fireballs and sighed. The scene in the river was gruesome, to say the least. It seemed like the men were Mind Controlled to kill each other for the amusement of the dark guild that passed here, for no one other than a fellow dark guild would do such a thing to innocent inhabitants.

She stepped over the corpse of a viciously slashed man and started looking around, but not hoping for, survivors; after all, Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment1.

"Is there an ulterior motive to such senseless slaughter? Or is this just a result of hobbies twisted beyond recognition?" She mumbled to herself as she stopped on the bank of the river, the normally pristine waters running red with blood and bodies. She stared at the depths of the waters, wondering about which guild she knew who might have done this, when suddenly bushes rustled behind her.

She quickly turned, her silver gauntlets preparing her claws that could extend to an entire arms-length beyond her hand due to steel wires2 in a ready position, to the sound of the rustle, to see nothing but a bloody corpse on the bush. She froze.

_I swear that body wasn't there before…_

She cautiously stepped towards the slumped body and nudged it with her hand. It didn't respond.

_Hmph, I must have missed it then-_

-RUSTLE-

She quickly turned to the right and launched one of her claws at it. A wet -THWACK- sounded as the dart buried itself in the decaying flesh on another body slumped over a bush.

_W-what the hell is happening?_ She thought wildly.

-RUSTLE-

-SPLASH-

The bush to her left rustled as something splashed out of the water behind her. Abandoning all pretenses, she quickly rolled forward to the bush with the dart stuck on a body and turned around. Again, there was nothing that she could see that was out of the ordinary, yet her sixth sense was screaming at her to get out before-

A scream suddenly erupted from right beside her.

* * *

Natsu kept his guard up, his dragon training alerting him to something utterly _wrong_ about this town. He passed by stores with windows smashed and bodies strewn about like dolls, houses with fires burning and charred bodies hanging out, plants with faces of humans contorted in visions of torture; he was glad he decided to keep Happy from entering this place.

The hairs on his back suddenly all stood up as a chill passed through him. He immediately shifted to a guard stance as he felt a pair of eyes watching him, his own eyes darting all around, trying to find the elusive watcher.

"I know you're watching me, come out!" He shouted. There was no reply.

They stood like that for what seemed like hours, the tension thick as oil and thin as a thread, the Watcher and the Dragon in an impasse, each waiting for the other to make a mistake.

Then the Watcher suddenly stepped forward from the shadows and Natsu could see it clearly. It was a young girl that seemed barely over ten, her green eyes were narrowed with suspicion as she warily stood in front of the Dragon Slayer, her black hair disarrayed and dirty. She wore what seemed to be a blue dress that reached up to her knees and a bracelet with wing engravings on her right wrist.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Natsu Dragneel of Dragon's Pride, who are you?" Natsu replied. She didn't reply.

The world suddenly turned black.

* * *

1 Taken from Warhammer 40k.

2 If you can, look up Sima Yi's Dynasty Warriors 6 weapon base, it's like that, and it's totally awesome XD

**Abhishekunnikm – No, the guild that attacked was most definitely NOT Fairy Tail, if this is a reference to the thing I said before about the untouched consequences of Fairy Tail's drastic actions then I'll just say it's coming soon! XD**

**Sereneskydragonslayer – The concept of and basic structure of the sentences I took from the Kido of Bleach (Yes, I know I use a lot of Bleach elements here, gimme a break people, I love Bleach!). As for the actual sentences and words themselves, I just make them up as I go along XD**

**All other reviewers with no clarifications – Thank you for reviewing! It really helps me get inspired to make another chapter when people comment on my current chapters so keep the reviews coming!**

Same modus operandi from before please, review so I can get some feedback on whether my quality is decreasing, improving or just staying plain old me, if you have requests on stuff like clarifications on vague subjects, pairings of characters, possible scenes and chapters, please pm me or put it in a review!

Cheers,

Creleuth


	9. Dragon, Remove the Darkness

(Stares awkwardly at people)

So… Hi!

(Popcorn starts being thrown _everywhere_)

AAHHHHH! I KNOW! I KNOW!

I have a horrible work ethic, I'll be the first to admit it. I can't even excuse my leaving you guys hanging so…

(goes down on his knees and bows)

I'm terribly sorry! Please accept my next chapter as compensation!

* * *

-SFX-

_Thoughts _(more than one sentence or word, cause those are for emphasis)

"Speech"

"_Japanese words_"

"MASSIVE SHOUTING"

"**Zoooooommmmmbbiiiieeeeeeeess ssss**"

_**Author's helpful little notes and stuff**_

* * *

Chapter 9:

Dragon, Remove the Darkness

"_**Blackened Sun, Dragon's Pride. The Abyss stares back, Demon against Demon. Cry, Broken Spirit, and release the wolves!"**_

High above a remote little town, an eagle flew in the sky, searching for prey to kill and eat. It saw that the humans that once fed it daily being killed and slaughtered by other humans and it felt nothing for it was an animal. Now, it flew around to find a new place to stay, and maybe find some food along the way.

Suddenly the sky turned black as night, the bright shine of the sun disappearing within a single eye blink, and the eagle started to panic; it did not see what caused the sudden lack of light. Maybe if it flew down and-

A streak of light suddenly blinded the eagle and it panicked unashamedly, trying to escape the sudden onset of strange happenings.

It definitely will _not_ make a nest here.

Little did it know, it was heading right into the thick of the action.

* * *

_**Natsu's POV**_

The world turned black as night, and hell was unleashed.

Natsu flashed backwards as the little girl in front of him suddenly clutched her head and _screamed_. The unearthly sound was echoed all around and he was stunned when he noticed the corpses of the dead all around him begin to rise slowly and amble towards him.

"No, no… Please… take me away from here… mother… father… kill me… demons… nightmares…" The girl sobbed, seemingly overcome with grief, all pretense of strength gone as she stared wide-eyed at the faces of the bodies marching towards Natsu. He was bewildered, what was happening?

He didn't have time to stop and wonder about the bizarre proceedings as he heard a scream in the direction where Loki should be, and the little girl in front of him fell to her knees and held herself as she broke down completely. He suddenly appeared in front of the screaming girl and gathered his magic, slamming his fist to the ground he shouted.

"_Karyu no Enkei!_"

A blazing red ring of fire suddenly appeared around Natsu and the unnamed girl, shielding them from the walking dead. The bodies walked to the very edge of the fire and suddenly stopped, deterred by the raging flames before them. Using the time bought, Natsu then used the communicators his team always kept with them to try to contact Loki and Connor.

"Oi! Connor! Loki! Answer me!"

Static answered him. Suddenly, his teammates' lack of response became the last thing on his mind.

"… **fooooooddddd….. graaaagghhhhhggh…**" moaned the zombies as they suddenly entered the circle of flames, shambling and stumbling along as fire coated their bodies, seemingly not feeling the ravenous heat that ate them from the outside in. They continued walking towards them and the screaming little girl until finally the flames turned their legs to cinder. Natsu closed his eyes in relief as the first wave of zombies finally succumbed to his Fire, but suddenly they snapped back open as a second wave of zombies passed through the circle and a third wave right behind them, passing through the slight gap the second wave made in his flames.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

All throughout this the girl continued to scream to the heavens.

Making a decision, Natsu placed the girl close to his chest as the zombies closed around them in a perverse circle of decaying flesh, his magic responding to his needs once again.

"_Karyu no Kagistume!_"

At the very last moment before the zombies managed to grab hold of Natsu and the girl, he managed to propel them high into the air, soaring above the rooftops and into-

His head collided with a large object as a sudden screeching erupted near his ears, causing him to lose his concentration, his utter shock contributing to his confusion as his Fire Dragon's Claw spluttered out and died, stopping their ascent and triggering their descent back to the zombies.

"Ho no you don't!" He said to himself as he prepared his magic for another Claw, but he forgot to take into account the large thing that was flapping and screeching in his ear.

* * *

_**Hawk's POV**_

The hawk was annoyed, annoyed and frustrated, it was just trying to find a nice place to nest in and some food, but then the sky turned black and a human flew up the sky to collide with it. It had enough of humans and their meddling with Nature…

Real claws flashed and a sudden screaming erupted high above the town as Natsu Dragneel learned _never_ to annoy a hawk. A black shape fell down back to the ground, exactly where it flew away from.

* * *

_**Connor's POV**_

Blood spurted into the air and plastered itself onto Connor as the little girl in his arms looked down to see a large hand poking through her chest, grabbing Connor's neck and constricting his airflow. His eyes were as wide as they can be as they looked in shock at the little girl who was suddenly and brutally _murdered_ in front of his eyes.

"…ggrhh… wha… the… -uck?"

The girl's lips suddenly curled upwards into a smile, red blood oozing from the corners as she giggled for no apparent reason. The hand holding him in a vice grip suddenly tightening even more as the girl slowly raised her head to stare at him, still smiling-

with eyes red as blood.

"_Nii-san_," she said chillingly in a sing-song voice, "you promised to help me right? My mother needs a new body to live in, since she died. I was going to look for one somewhere in the town but then _Nii-san_ came here and said he would help us." she continued, the hand continuing to restrict his airflow and preventing him from escaping. She leaned in close to him, her eyes level with his own.

"The only help we needed was a new body, _ne, okasan?_" she finished, her lips parting to reveal two rows of perfect, pointed, _bloodstained_ teeth inside, her mouth set in a smile so wide it was threatening to split her face in two.

"O… Con… or…. L… ki…. An….. sw….. me!" His communicator crackled suddenly. His eyes widened even further as the girl paused and stared at the little black thing hidden in his ear, a frown crossing her features.

"No no no _Nii-san_," she pouted, the expression twisted and warped by her blood eyes and sharp teeth, "we can't have you asking for help from someone else _ne?_" she said, her little hand going up to grasp his ear before ripping it out, blood spraying the ground as Connor screamed in agony.

"AHHH!"

He screamed and thrashed as the pain was unbearable, his eardrum slightly poking out from the side of his head, veins and nerves surrounding it as the girl looked at it in fascination, a hideous smile gracing her features once more.

"That's better, now, _okasan_ will take your body now." She said, giggling once more as another hand spurted out from her chest to grab the bleeding stump in his ear. "Don't be sad," she smiled, taking in Connor's horrified visage looking at her, "_okasan_ will only take your body, you'll still see and watch everything we do." She finished, as a head started oozing from her chest.

The head was a thing of horror, the flesh decayed and rotten; the eyes gouged out and eye sockets sunken. It was covered in blood and organs as it heaved itself out of the girl's chest and used its hold on Connor to put itself beside his ear stump. It was a hideous thing when fully emerged, with a sunken head and two large arms connected to a pitiful copy of a spine, no body or legs to speak of. It opened its mouth at Connor's eardrum and a sickly tongue snapped out to lick it, before it started to suck itself into his eardrum like a reverse vacuum, compressing and folding to fit the opening as Connor's screams raised to new heights at the unreal agony he was experiencing as he lost control of his body.

"Oh," the girl said, her expression suddenly thoughtful, not minding the horrifying image of a man being possessed just inches away from her, "I didn't introduce myself haven't I?" She smiled once more, her human features melting off her face as her fangs lengthened to reach her chin, her skin taking on a pale sheen as she bowed mockingly at Connor, a demonic face staring at him.

"I am Reiki, please taste good!" She finished her bow and stood straight up again, another smile set upon her face.

Blood then fountained into the air.

* * *

_**Loki's POV**_

She coughed once more, blood and spittle flying out as she stared in hatred at her opponent, who was unscathed despite her attacking for the better part of ten minutes now, no matter. Her opponent raised an eyebrow as she charged in again, her silver gauntlets poised and ready to deliver a deathblow at her opponent.

"Tch, how troublesome"

Four -THWACK-s of metal meeting flesh resounded around them as the charging figure was halted by four long string of wire connecting her with the other who was holding an arm towards her. The metal pierced her arms and legs and left her like a puppet with strings, her opponent's face never seen in the darkness of the spell effect. She raised the hapless girl into the air and made her look like a woman to be crucified.

"It's been so long since I've had a challenge to fight, it seems that I have to wait still." The puppeteer said, stepping into the pale light coming from a blazing fire in the house next to them, it was the face of Loki. The puppet was also casted into the light by the flames; she also had the face of Loki.

"I admit this form seems most preferable however." The first Loki said, inspecting her other arm as the first one kept the Second Loki in the air. Her eyes displayed a glint of cruel amusement as she made a show of examining the body she had copied, knowing the original had no way of fighting back.

She had managed to catch the unwary witch by surprise and scored in a dozen hits before she managed to get out of her range. Those hits decided the outcome of their battle no matter what the original did. She smirked evilly.

"My apologies, I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Kyo, at your service, _Nee-san._" She bowed mockingly, her eyes glinting with cruelty.

Loki coughed and asked, with blazing eyes, "What are you doing here? What do you seek to accomplish?"

Kyo tilted her head at her, her face no longer amused or joyful, it was instead confused.

"Accomplish?" She echoed. "Why do I need to have goals and objectives in my actions? Is it too much to simply want to have _fun?_" She said, her expression that of naivety and innocence. "My sisters and I want nothing more than to have fun; raping guys, possessing the dead, eating children. We only want the simple pleasures in life, no stupid complicated plots or anything." She finished her tone now mildly exasperated. "Is that so bad?" She added.

Loki however seemingly ignored her, her blonde bangs hanging over and covering her eyes.

Kyo grew frustrated at the lack of response. "OI!" She stormed up to her and grabbed her throat with her right hand, her left poised at Loki's face. "ANSWER ME!" She screamed, spittle flying all around.

"_Naruhodo_…" A voice behind her muttered, Kyo immediately turned around and brought Loki in front of her as a hostage, facing… Loki?!

This Loki was exactly the same as the First and Second, except she had on an expression of utter ice, her eyes chips of blazing azure, her body perfectly poised on her dainty feet, an Ice Queen.

She was staring right at Kyo, her entire body radiating confidence and utter conviction. Shit.

"You are not human; you are an animal, filled with desire and instinct, always seeking gratification, pleasure, _satisfaction…_" She continued, hissing the last word.

Kyo's arms were suddenly separated from her body, blood spurting out like a fountain. Her screams suddenly filled the night as the Loki she was holding vanished into nothing.

Loki Djofull, the Mind Empress, stared dispassionately at her screaming doppelganger.

"A cockroach like you is not worthy of my Arc of Mind. Only those who present a real challenge have the privilege of facing my power." She declared quietly.

"Arrghh! When did you… how did you- My eyes see through everything! My illusions are perfect! How did you-" Kyo panted, her body trying its best to stop the massive loss of blood. Loki raised a delicate eyebrow at her.

"I ask you this: When did you think that _I_ was under _your_ illusion?" She said.

-SWISH, THWACK!-

Loki's arm had extended and pierced Kyo's throat at the same spot she was about to attack herself.

"My Arc of Mind is a curious thing. It does not work like other Illusion magic, it does not invade the senses nor does it project my imagination into the environment; instead, it connects my mind with the minds of other people, allowing me to project whatever I desire directly into my targets' consciousness, essentially, I alter, create and remove memories and sensations." She elaborated, Kyo's eyes widening with every word. "For instance: I can cause your mind to feel yourself being burned alive," She continued, suddenly Kyo's surroundings turned red and her entire body started smoking and catching fire as she screamed in agony.

She knew that this was merely an illusion, nothing more, but the pain felt so real! She could literally feel her skin burning inch by agonizing inch, her mind unable to counter the effects of her magic. Her throat became hoarse from yelling and the fire was about to reach her eyes when suddenly the illusion stopped. Her body felt fine but something was _wrong_. What was it? Her head snapped up when Loki began again.

"Even though what you just experienced was _merely_ an illusion to me, your mind remembers it as fact; thus the parts of your body that were burned by the fire actually feel like they were burned to ash. There is no known way to counteract its effects, other than resisting my will in the first place, for that my magic can be labeled as the Ultimate Illusion, and it would be only slightly wrong." She finished. "Kyo, you have been an interesting opponent, but sadly, you have been found wanting. _Sayonara_."

-SWISH!-

Pieces of Loki's doppelganger then fell to the ground in steaming piles of flesh and meat. Loki flicked her arms to remove the blood and set off to find Natsu and Connor.

* * *

_**Connor's POV**_

"_Yare yare_…"

Reiki's eyes were widened to what they could possibly be as she stared at the black sword that pierced through her chest, her mother and the body she possessed. She shakily looked up to see Connor with his left hand holding a pitch black flat cap with the brim pulled over to shadow his eyes, the emeralds glinting with amusement. His right arm held the sword that was currently making a new hole in her chest.

Suddenly the Connor that her mother was in disappeared into tiny black particles that floated up into the air as Connor leaned in to whisper at her ear.

"_Kage no Tsukuru_: _Bunshin_"

She struggled, her mouth opening and closing as she tried desperately to speak.

"H- you… wh-" she coughed up blood, preventing her from speaking more.

He smirked at her, steel in his eyes.

"_Gomen, _I'm pretty sure you want an explanation for what just happened, _tadashi_, unlike Loki, I have no interest in explaining my magic and powers to other people. I guess you have something to do in hell then, _ne?_" He chuckled at his joke, swiftly removing his sword from her chest and holding it below his left shoulder. She began to fall.

"_Ansatsu maho: Hangetsu no dageki_"

His sword suddenly flashed purest white for an instant as he slashed it upwards. The magic channelled and transferred to her body as she flew up with the force of the blow. When she was completely off the ground the magic activated, forming a white half-circle of pure magic at her sword wound and propelling her ten feet into the air. When she fell down five feet away from him, the massive slash wound she had had been exacerbated by the accompanying magic, nearly severing her into two, her organs shredded and ruptured and exposed to the world. All throughout this her expression of almost innocent shock never changed.

Connor stared at her broken form, a tired sigh escaping his mouth. He removed his cap and tucked it on his belt as a small cut was revealed in his forehead.

"Can't believe she managed to cut me. Note to self: always keep your barriers up, or else Natsu and sis will laugh themselves to tears at my carelessness."

He turned around and began walking towards where he felt Natsu was fighting, the light catching a pained look in his eye as he moved away from the scene of mutilation and rape that they fought in.

"(Sigh)… children shouldn't fight the battles of adults…"

Without further ado, he blurred out of sight, leaving behind blazing flames and mutilated bodies.

* * *

_**Center of Town**_

"That was a pain… I didn't see the carriage that hit me, ow…" Natsu grumbled as he rubbed his head and forearm, where a trio of cuts marked where the irritated hawk attacked him. All around him were the burnt bodies of the zombies that tried to attack him and the girl, who fell asleep a few minutes ago, along with the charred body of an old crone who was the root behind the sudden darkness and the necromancy.

Before they fell down to the ground at terminal velocity, Natsu managed to recast his _Kagitsume_ to slow their descent, unwittingly landing on top of the woman directing the zombies, who quickly realized that old, dry skin and Dragon's flames _do not_ go together.

A sudden disturbance moved in the air before blurring into existence beside him, Loki. A second later and the air was disturbed again, Connor. He noticed Loki was unscathed, as always, while Connor had a cut above his left eye. He raised his eyebrow.

"You got hurt Connor?" He said disbelievingly. In response, Connor's eye twitched slightly.

"You're one to talk, having three gashes in your arm." He pointed out.

"Hey! A bird thingy rammed into me while I was soaring above the rooftops and slashed me! It was an accident!"

"Excuses, excuses…"

"Natsu…" Loki then interrupted their argument.

"… who is that?"

The three of them looked at the girl Natsu rescued, then at Natsu himself. He shrugged.

"She was the only one alive I found in this town, and the possessed bodies of the dead were trying to kill her and me, so I decided to save her to see what she knows."

At that point the girl then slowly opened her eyes and stared at them. They stared back. She opened her mouth to say-

"_Onii-chan, _you guys are noisy!"

Two face faults responded.

* * *

Magic:

_Karyu no Enkei _(Fire Dragon's Circle)– creates an intense circle of flames around the caster, shielding them from opponents or trapping their prey. The size may be varied by the wishes of the slayer.

_Kage no Tsukuru: Bunshin_ (Shadow-make: Alter Ego) – moulds an exact copy of the caster in the exact same position and location as the caster, while they are transported behind the _Bunshin_. The caster may control their creation much like that of a normal human being, with the _Bunshin_ dissipating once the caster cuts off the magic sustaining it, or the _Bunshin_ suffers a fatal blow.

_Ansatsu maho: Hangestu no dageki_ (Assassination magic: Strike of the Half-moon) – Coats the preferred weapon with magic, which is released when the sword strikes a surface. The magic then travels into the struck object and upon the object rising into the air from the force of the blow; the magic activates and augments the blade strike with a half-circle of pure magic digging into the wound. Only works if the struck object is launched into the air within three seconds of the blow.

So I realize that since school and my own laziness is interfering with my ability to write in a schedule, expect me to update whenever my load lightens or I manage to get into a writing spree much like my first few chapters of this story. XD

1337box - Sorry XD, I got a bit too carried away in that part. Thanks for the praise! I'm not sure I can write longer chapters though, it's hard enough trying to write 3000 word chapters as it is and keep the quality the same, but I'll try XD

Rinny-Senpai 32 - Thank you for saying this story is very good, I aim to please XD (Actually no, I was just writing my own take on what might happen at Lisanna's death then things kinda snowballed from there :P). Here's the update! XD

Same modus operandi as before people! Any ideas, send me a pm or put it in a review!

As a new year's bonus, here's a sneak peek into my second story (that's going even slower than this one, I assure you):

"_**Kaa-san**_**, why does daddy hate uncle?" A small orange-haired boy asked his beautiful mother one sunny day, a few weeks after **_**that**_**.**

**She paused her preparations for lunch as she considered how to answer her son's question. After a second she smiled.**

"**I'll tell you when you're older ok ******? You need to be older to understand why daddy doesn't like uncle"**

**The boy pouted.**

"**But uncle helped us a lot! I like uncle! He's always calm, **_**Tou-san**_** acts like a child!" She laughed at that.**

**The doorbell rang, startling mother and son. She smiled again.**

"**That must be your uncle, ******, would you be a dear and get your sisters? Lunch is ready." She said, getting up and going to the door. Her son nodded eagerly and bolted up the stairs to get ***** and ****.**

**Smiling, she opened the door, revealing a brown-haired man with square glasses and a kind smile on his face standing at the door. He spoke.**

"**Good morning, Masaki"**

**She stepped aside and allowed him to enter.**

"**Good morning to you too, **_**Uncle**_** Sousuke" She said to him.**

Aaaaannnndddd CUT! If you can't guess which anime this story is going to be, I gotta raise my eyebrow (Hint Hint! I put references of this anime EVERYWHERE in my current story)

If you guessed which anime is that, congratulations! Here's a cookie

Cheers,

Creleuth


	10. Special Chapter

Special Chapter:

(Taken from LDA, edited, modified, and prettified)

Hatchling, Come into the Dragon's Embrace

* * *

-SFX-

_Thoughts _(more than one sentence or word, cause those are for emphasis)

"Speech"

"_Japanese words_"

"MASSIVE SHOUTING"

"**Zoooooommmmmbbiiiieeeeeeeess ssss**"

_**Author's helpful little notes and stuff**_

* * *

_**Loki's POV**_

She could taste him in her mouth. Putting her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss, she molded her body against his, desperate to feel him against her, to satisfy her need for him. He responds, his arms around her lithe body, crushing her against him, his tongue viciously ravaging her mouth, exploring every inch of it, tasting her, wanting her, _needing her_.

They were in the dark of the forest, Connor and the little girl too far away to interfere, too far away to deny them this sweet moment of release.

"hn… haah… Natsu…" she whispered, her hot breath entering his mouth and galvanizing him. He suddenly withdrew from her, causing a low moan, then attacked her neck, sucking and licking every inch of skin he could reach.

She gasped sharply as she felt his tongue tracing lines of wet fire along her skin, his hands causing warmth to envelop her as they roamed all over her body, touching, feeling, claiming her as his own. She tightened her hold on his hair as she began panting and moaning harder.

"hah… hah… Natsu… take me!" she urged, her left leg wrapping around his torso as he pushed her against a tree. He growled in response, his hand going to her dress and preparing to rip it o-

-CAW!-

She bolted upright into a sitting position as a crow cawed on the tree above her, an arm extended to impale the insolent bird when she suddenly came to her senses. She sighed. _Why can't I ever see him naked? Why can't I ever have those dreams?_

She knew why. One of the dangers of Arc of Mind was the fact that the line between reality and fiction was altogether erased for the wielder. If she wasn't careful in her use of her magic, she might start to think that her fantasies and dreams were the truth, and thereby alter her own memories in the process. Losing herself to her dreams was something that she could not afford, no matter how tempting or gratifying it would be.

Looking around, she saw their campsite, set in a clearing Connor had stumbled into while running away from his sister for another trivial thing. The trees were close to them, but far enough that they had space for four people and a cat to sleep comfortably; Connor was beside her, his sleeping bag propped up against the tree, mouth open to the world with drool oozing from it as he mumbled incomprehensible words; Natsu and Happy were on the other side of the tree and, annoyingly, the little girl they found was there sleeping beside him, Happy sleeping on the far side from her as he was afraid of strangers.

She tried to curb her annoyance and jealousy at the little girl for being able to sleep beside Natsu, it was supposed to be her sleeping with him! After her torment at the hands of the many people in her childhood, the only man she ever felt kinship to and opened up her heart for was sleeping with this, this _child!_

She caught herself staring at Natsu and the girl and sighed. She had no reason to be annoyed or jealous; the girl was afraid of the dark and would only talk to Natsu, so it fell to him to guard her until they returned to the guild.

Thinking about Natsu and the guild made her remember the day a pink-haired mage with a blue cat entered the guild.

* * *

_**(Massive Flashback)**_

The city of Dillenia lay north-east of Magnolia, some few hundred miles to be exact. In contrast to the bright, happy atmosphere of Magnolia, the city was almost always under heavy clouds, and a dark atmosphere clung over the land. Its people were dark, iron-willed men and women, as the terrifying battles that often took place here were of a magical kind; wizard against wizard. As such, the people learned to be strong, cautious of strangers in their city and always with ready arms. Almost all who settled here experienced a traumatizing loss prior, from a wife to a daughter to an entire family, and lost their humanity in a wave of hate; many were fugitives from the law, the military often making raids to capture criminals.

Or at least, they used to. Before long the tales of a fugitive city reached the ears of a certain dark guild, and they made the long, hard journey to relocate their headquarters from the east of Fiore to Dillenia. They settled there and immediately brought to heel the two dark guilds that were fighting over the territory they just claimed, and began to systematically destroy all legal guilds and Rune Knights that tried to invade the city. Within their ranks were some of the practitioners of Forbidden and Lost magic and while they numbered just under a hundred, they were so strong that no one with ill-will towards the city ever managed to enter. They were called many names by the legal guilds, _Apocalypse_ some say, _Death_ others contest.

They call themselves Dragon's Pride.

* * *

In the dark marketplace, figures and stalls were hawking their wares to the shoppers who came and went, looking for the perfect object to offer. This day was called Remembrance Day by the people of Dillenia, where all people offered something up for their loved ones who were long gone; Dragon's Pride started the tradition after they finally beat back the detachment of Rune Knights from the city. They would make a magic bonfire on the hill overlooking the city and sit in solemn silence from midnight to dawn; contemplating the effects of the deaths they have suffered and crying in solitary grief. It became a tradition for the other people in the city after a few years of watching their dark protectors break down and cry like boys and girls, lost in the sea that is time, with no one to hold and guide them.

It was the only day in the year that they would allow themselves the luxury of taking down all their barriers and letting the bottled-up emotions spew forth like the torrent. All other days were spent either helping the guild protect the city, or working in the marketplace to earn enough to get by another month.

Suddenly all activity in the marketplace ceased as a stranger walked into the marketplace, his gait was slow, as if he was carrying a heavy load over his shoulders. He was escorted by two border guards of Dillenia, their watchful eyes always on his hands and feet, their magic swords ready.

Immediately, the men and women who were at the marketplace at the time tensed and their hands went to the hilts of their swords, years of being tricked by the military immediately causing them to be ready for any tricks.

"Berf, what does a _legal _guild guy want with us?" A brash young man, Marco asked. He lost his sister and mother in an attack by a legal guild mage who unfortunately could not avoid causing collateral damage: some ten people were killed and twice that injured.

"He says he wants to talk to the guild master here, something about joining their guild." Berf, the watchman, answered. He was once a compassionate soul, but the actions of the military to his family changed that. With his father in prison for murder and his sister broken and delirious from the time the guards kept visiting her, he gained a penchant for explosive outbursts of temper. Currently, he was warily watching the stranger's every move, ready to explode and kill the boy where he stood if he made a single wrong move.

"Tch, what would the guild want with a prissy boy like him huh? He probably just wants to try to assassinate the Master!" A woman, Mavy, yelled. She suffered the same fate as Berf's sister, with the military keeping her for over a year before she managed to escape and reach Dillenia. Now, she lived in perpetual fear of anyone from the military, and was constantly watching the countryside of the city for any suspicious characters.

"Not our place to say, besides, the Master sent word to let him through. We're just here so he won't try any funny business" Ven calmly said. He was a cold and distant person, never talking about his past to anyone; what they got from his mutterings whenever he had a nightmare was that he watched his entire family get slaughtered by the military in a raid in Dillenia when he was eight.

The guards, no longer wanting to answer any more unanswerable questions from the growing crowd, made everyone move as they ushered the stranger towards the guild hall in the hill overlooking the city.

* * *

The guild hall of Dragon's Pride was situated on the hill overlooking the city. It was shaped like a pagoda, with the sweeping roofs and many levels, the greatest difference being the massive black dragon statue curling up around the building itself; its wings spread out slightly as if to ward off intruders; its head turned towards the guild entrance as if to smite down any who tried to harm the guild. Its name is the Dragon Hold.

Currently, the ninety-or-so members of the guild were situated inside, waiting for the stranger that came from Fairy Tail. All were wondering if the stranger was there to talk about guild matters, attempt to fulfill a contract, or (as far-fetched as it was) join their guild.

"Tch, if he's just going to waste our time I want first crack at this bastard." Trev declared. A practitioner of Arc of Time Magic; he was arrested by the military for 'crimes against the state', where he attempted to kill the businessman who kicked them out of their own home of 15 years. He entered Dragon's Pride and quickly gained S-class status, earning the name 'Bullet Time' for his creative use of his magic to fight through massive battles unscathed. He is blond-haired, lean with a well-defined body. He wears a long trench coat that's always opened, exposing his white untucked polo shirt and his black slacks and shoes. He was impulsive, pig-headed and loud, but they learned long ago to just tune out whatever he says most of the time.

"Whatever Trev, the master will be the one to give the verdict though. We all know that." Khione said calmly. She was an Ice Dragon Slayer, wielding the ancient spell of 'Ice of Apathy', where her ice magic becomes stronger the more she stays cold and logical. She gained her title as Dragon Slayer when her dragon parent was captured by a guild and killed, she had to use a forbidden magic she learned while going through the dragon's belongings, a spell that revived a dead being for the price of one's emotions. She used it and subsequently lost all ability to feel, but her mentor and parent was revived, and is still alive today, though she didn't know where because the dragon had disappeared on X777, but for her, the life of her mother was worth any price. She is also known as the 'Ice Dragoness'. She is white-haired and beautiful, wearing a blue long-sleeved sweater, white pants and shoes. True to her magic, she is stoic, cold and apathetic, always calculating and analyzing even out of battle.

"Still, if he tries anything, I'll make sure he'll wish he's never been born…" Thor murmured. He was a rare type of wizard: a double-type master. Double-type wizards are those who are born with the ability to learn and master two different types of magic, oftentimes compensating for one's weaknesses. Thor was an Ice and Lighting wizard, able to create and combine the two elements into terrifying spells capable of destroying whole battalions. He lost his entire home to a passing army battalion going to war that 'requisitioned' his house as a headquarters and supply point, conveniently forgetting that his daughter and wife were part of the requisition. He goes by his title, 'God of Storms'. He is also blonde, with a thick, blood-red, fur-lined coat, a black long-sleeved sweater with black gloves, and camouflage pants and combat boots.

* * *

Outside, Loki was waiting in the guild grounds for the stranger. She was a Mind magic wizard, able to sense the emotions of other people around her and forcibly enter their minds to search for information. She was once a slave-girl from Bosco who was forcibly used as 'entertainment' by the prison guards and her subsequent owners, enabling her to develop an acute sense of other people's emotions until it burst through a hidden blockade put in by her parents to protect her, granting her access to her magic. She then escaped from the prison by entering the minds of the guards and forcibly destroying them and making them relive their worst nightmares again and again, then she began her campaign of finding her previous owners and murdering the lot of them. She thus became known as 'Trickster' and 'Nightmare' among others, but she prefers to be called by her title, 'White Demon'. She is has long, blonde hair and wears a white cape reaching until her waist, a white dress up to her hands (covered in white gloves) and reaching her feet and white shoes (think Cinderella shoes).

She saw three figures in the distance, slowly trudging up the hill towards them. As they came nearer, she could finally read their emotions; the two border guards were cautious and nervous about the stranger, their hands always fingering the hilt of their swords; she then turned her attention to the stranger and gasped quietly, her eyes widening ever so slightly.

The stranger was filled with grief, so many negative emotions it literally poured out of him in waves; no wonder the guards were cautious, they could probably feel his sadness even if they were the densest people in the world! Loki then knew immediately that the stranger was here to try to join the guild; no deception was possible with her magic. Her objective achieved, she immediately turned and went inside the guild hall, which suddenly became silent as she entered. Her face slowly widened to a bittersweet smile as she sat down to a suddenly attentive audience.

"He's here to join." That was all; all they needed to hear. Dragon's Pride attracted wizards who lost someone very dear to them and who became disillusioned with the world and its people. Immediately all of them bowed their heads and shared a moment of sadness and grief for the stranger who lost his loved ones, remembering their own losses in their past. A sniffle and a sob was heard somewhere in the hall as some of the newer members tried unsuccessfully to contain their pain.

"Well damn…" Trev muttered under his breath. "I still don't know if I should be happy or sad that someone wants to join us…" Many of the older members nodded their heads slightly at his words.

All of a sudden the doors opened again as the stranger entered alone. He was a curious sight, clad in a black waistcoat with silver trimmings over his chest with nothing underneath, a red jacket flung over it, and knee-length trousers. A red guild mark was visible on his right arm just below his shoulder, the symbol of Fairy Tail, a blue cat with a green backpack was riding his shoulder, and both their heads were faced downwards. He obviously came from Magnolia itself, his fatigue and slow gait seen by all. He stopped in front of them and slowly lifted his head to show haunted eyes, eyes they all knew too well.

"Is… this…Dragon's Pride?" he asked. They all nodded back to him and made a space for him in the great table in the center of the room. He nodded his thanks and sat down heavily, the blue cat's head staying down until he took it off his shoulder and laid it on the table. Everyone watched his actions anxiously, anticipating for the eventual drop to blissful sleep. He did not disappoint, within ten seconds after placing the cat on the table, the stranger's head fell to the table as well and he started snoring heavily. They all smiled slightly at the cute sight of the boy snoring beside the blue cat, their faces close to each other and bubbles coming in and out of their noses.

* * *

Natsu slowly woke up to the smell of well cooked meat, his mouth watering slightly at the tasty scent; he was about to run down and find the source of the smell when he suddenly remembered where he was. Sighing slightly as he let himself fall back to the soft bed he slept in, he mentally congratulated himself for reaching his destination.

"Dragon's Pride, what a funny name; dragons have no pride, at least, not like we understand it." He said to himself quietly. He had traveled from Magnolia to Dillenia without any stops along the way except to sleep fitfully, his dreams being haunted by the voice and face of a certain white-haired girl, causing him to wake up screaming and crying every time he got more than three hours of sleep. He chuckled slightly.

_Do you hate me for failing you Lisanna? I don't blame you, after all, it was I who promised you I'll protect you forever…_

His quiet laughter faded into pained gasps, as his grief turned into a physical ache in his chest. His eyes shedding tears once again, this time he couldn't stop the torrent from rising up and unleashing his massive guilt. It didn't help that it was raining heavily outside, the soft pitter-patter of the rain striking the windows reminding him of _that_ day.

_Igneel would probably berate me loudly right about now, if he saw me like this. What do you think Lisanna? Would he be angry at me? Ne, Lisanna?_

No feeling the urge to go down, introduce himself and eat some food, Natsu let the tears out and cried himself to sleep, his right hand struggling to grasp the scarf he always wore at his neck, now gone.

Once he was asleep, Loki then closed the door that she had left opened to watch the stranger, her eyes stinging once again as they did every time a new member came to their guild. Their pain and sadness was sometimes just too much for her to handle, opening old wounds and causing her to relive her own tormented past. She then left quietly, not wishing to disturb the sleeping dragon slayer.

"Welcome to the family, brother…"

Connor yawned widely as he waited for his sister, Loki Djafull, come down from visiting the stranger housed in the dorms upstairs. He was a curious sight, being brown-haired and lean, with emerald eyes that constantly sparkled with amusement. He was clad in a stylish black tuxedo with a black flat cap covering his wavy hair and a katana with a black scabbard sitting next to him by the balcony overlooking the guild hall.

He was one of the members of Dragon's Pride, not S-class yet because of their guild master's exacting standards of excellence, but soon. He was one of the Assassin Mages of their guild, powerful in that he combined both Assassination Magic and Shadow-Make to confuse and annihilate the enemy in an elaborate dance of death. He was not as proficient in his Shadow-Make as true practitioners, but it served his purpose well enough.

He leaned over the balcony and watched his guild mates talk and laugh and make a ruckus with his head resting on his hand. Thinking about his past, he remembered how he ran away from home the moment he learned that his sister was sold to slavers to take care of _him_, it made his blood boil. He had immediately gone to his room and gathered his possessions, intending never to return here again. He was long gone by the time his _parents_- he spat mentally- called him down to eat. He didn't know what became of them, or if they're even alive. He didn't care, as long as he was with his sister, everything would be fine.

Yesterday was the one day the members of Dragon's Pride allowed all their accumulated barriers and shield collapse and let themselves mourn in solidarity, they would think about the past, their mistakes and anguish, their loss of innocence. They allowed their pent up sorrow and regret to fountain out, to remind them of their reason to live, of their vows to themselves that made them what they are.

The Council and its laws on justice can _go fuck itself_. _They_ didn't lose their wives, their children, their very lives; even worse being the primary reason they lost it in the first place is because of the incompetence of the Council and the Legal Guilds, or of the military, or of any number of those _bureaucratic sons of bitches_ in their greed.

He lay musing, staring at nothing until finally; Loki came and laid a hand on his shoulder. He looked at her, a question in his face. _Well?_ She shrugged and replied.

"He isn't trying to fake his sadness Connor, he really is broken… " her voice slightly hitched at the end. He winced slightly. He knew that Loki could literally feel the emotions of others, the sadness the stranger upstairs felt must truly be terrible to shake even Loki.

"Natsu" she suddenly said.

He blinked.

"What?"

"His name is Natsu, not 'stranger'." She corrected.

"How did yo- You read my mind again didn't you! Why!?" He yelled, pointing an accusing finger at her. She raised her delicate eyebrow at his actions.

"I didn't, you are just so utterly predictable I can guess your next sentence."

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"Oh really? What is it?" He challenged.

"That." She deadpanned.

He face faulted to the floor.

"WAAHHH! HOW CRUEL! Is this the fabled sibling bonding that I've been reading about?" He suddenly shouted, going to a kneeling position and raising his arms up in petition. Their argument then devolved to name-calling and insults, their own way of coping against the hardships that they endured to come here, to this family of broken glass…

Thus did Natsu Dragneel first meet his new family.

_**(End of Flashback)**_

* * *

Hiyas Guys!

So someone (I'm looking at you, alienvx0 XD) told me it would be great if I decided to add a special chapter or some such that showed Natsu finding and joining Dragon's Pride, so I was like 'hmmm… what a great idea!' Then I remembered the first chapter I made for the Lost Dragon Arc, I reread it and was like 'hey, this is good enough, with some mods'. So after tweaking it and modifying it to fit the current storyline, I decided to release this because I had a break in studies XD

Now, on to the review responses!

**Alienvx0 –Thank you so much for the review! Not only was it informative, it praised my work! (Writers need praise you know XD) I'll try to look into the stories you told me about and try to incorporate it into my style but no promises! About the characterizations of Loki and Connor, I was actually going to do that while they were travelling and stuff, ya know, bit by bit, but I agree that Loki and Connor seem rather lackluster atm, so I'm trying to fix that now XD As a thank you for the awesome review, here is the special chapter you asked for!**

**Rinny-Senpai 32 – Thanks! Always good to know that someone is reading your story :)**

**Sereneskydragonslayer – Yep, It's Bleach (Have a cookie!)**

If I seem hyper and high while writing this section I honestly don't know why, I didn't drink anything unusual or do any drugs so I dunno, but what the hell! XD

Same modus operandi as before my loyal readers!

Cheers,

Creleuth

P.S.

If you thought the first part was going to lead to a lemon, tsk tsk, you naughty naughty reader XD Lemons later, not today!

P.S.S

The updates I did on the previous chapters addressed some issues raised by observant readers, thank you so much!


	11. A Secret Shattered

Chapter 10:

A Secret Shattered

"_**White Ghosts of Past Pain, hidden in Black and Storm! Fear and Betrayal seep; the silver armor tarnished by dark! Cruel Fate, the impending Storm Strikes! "**_

* * *

-SFX-

_Thoughts _(more than one sentence or word, cause those are for emphasis)

"Speech"

"_Japanese words_"

"MASSIVE SHOUTING"

_**Author's helpful little notes and stuff**_

* * *

_**As Natsu, Loki and Connor were exploring the town and going back to Dillenia.**_

_**In, Fairy Tail, Magnolia…**_

She sat in one lonely table, away from the ruckus and noise that was the Guild of Fairy Tail, now involved in another brawl over something undoubtedly trivial. A mug of beer was clutched in her hand; her scarlet locks covering her face as she stared unseeingly at the murky depths of the drink, hoping, in futility, to calm the raging storm of emotion that engulfed her. This was the image of Erza Scarlet, Titania of Fairy Tail. This was her image on the day that Natsu Dragneel left, and it has been her image every anniversary thereafter.

No one bothered her, no one dared. Many of them had already moved on from his 'death', for they assumed that he had died; him, Natsu, the Annoying Dragon Slayer, had died of grief they said.

She knew better, Natsu could not have died, he was too strong, too stubborn to die yet; if he must fight through Heaven and Hell to get her back, he would fight with everything in his being, with every breath in his body, until at last, he reached her, and collapsed in her arms. Even though she would rather the girl be her, Erza loved Natsu all the more for his selflessness. If only that image of a Knight in Fiery Armor could hold for her, she would be contented.

But alas, the Dragon stole in the night and shattered her fairy tale. Natsu had come and _murdered_ Bora the Prominence; even though he might deserve it, being a slaver, Natsu still had no right to callously murder another human being. The casual way in which he and his _nakama_ incinerated Bora and his henchmen spoke of a brutality she could only see in a Dark Mage.

_Thus to my predicament_, she mused. Taking a long swig from her mug, she emptied it of its contents for the sixteenth time; she stared at it, before standing up once again to refill her drink, slightly swaying from side to side as she weaved her way to the bar, not noticing for the first time that all members of the guild stopped fighting the moment she stood up. _What should I do? Should I tell them about Natsu and his new guild? Or should I keep quiet and let them assume that I found nothing once again?_

* * *

As she was slowly making her way to the bar where Mira was currently working at, Lucy and her teammates; Levi, Jet and Droy, arrived from their mission in Shirotsume. Lucy was currently sulking at the fact that they didn't get the reward money, as Levy stated that their mission was to burnthe book, and seeing as they didn't manage that, then they couldn't take the reward. Now she was worrying over the fact that she might not be able to pay her rent on time.

She was moving towards the bar to ask for a drink to take away her woes, when she bumped into someone. Freezing at the sudden contact, she slowly turned her head to see Erza with her head bowed down and her face obscured by her hair, body slightly swaying. Blood then suddenly drained from her face as Erza started to raise her head to look at who bumped into her. Lucy quickly tried to hitch a smile on her face (a rather forced one at that) and hoped Erza would not kill her.

"Hehehe… _Gomen _Erza-san! I didn't see you there!" She laughed awkwardly, her face sweating like no tomorrow and her right hand rubbing the back of her head, her left arm stiff with fear. She gulped slightly as Erza's eyes made their appearance, staring at her blankly. She barely noticed the guild's noise levels lowered to a low murmur, the members staring at Erza and Lucy, ready to try to stop a drunken Erza from destroying them all (not that they'll succeed).

Erza merely stared back at Lucy, her mind preoccupied with her Natsu dilemma, unable to process the person in front of her. With a sigh at the fact that she had to move around the obstacle blocking her path, she turned slightly to the left and moved around the object that was standing in her way, her mind not recognizing that the 'object' was actually Lucy. _I have got to remove that statue from there later; it's a health hazard to drunken people_. She thought while continuing to move towards Mira.

Lucy merely stared at Erza's retreating back, her mind confused about what just happened. The noise level of the guild started to go back to normal, an undercurrent of relief in the air as the members didn't have to endanger their lives trying to stop Erza from rampaging around the whole place.

Lucy then moved towards the bar after Erza, her mind still trying to understand what just happened. She got there as Erza was leaving with a new mug of beer clutched in between her hands, her face obscured once again. Lucy then took a seat at the bar beside Gray, who was facing the guild, and dropped her head to the wood.

"I don't understand it…" She said, closing her eyes.

Mira put a drink in front of her and asked, "What don't you understand Lucy?"

"What's wrong with Erza? She seems out of it for some reason" Lucy wondered, pulling her head up and opening her eyes while her hand reached for the beverage Mira gave her.

Gray, stripped down to his pants once again, turned his head slightly towards Lucy and answered her, "Today is a very, let's just say notable, day for Erza and the guild in general." He turned back towards the guild, taking in the relatively peaceful atmosphere. "Two years ago, on this very day, two members of Fairy Tail were lost to us forever." He said wistfully, remembering the two people and his friendship and rivalry with each one. "One was a fiery-headed idiot, the other was the girl he loved with all his heart…"

Unnoticed by him, Mira stopped cleaning the glasses in the bar and slowly put them down, her back facing them; she then held the edges of the counter with a shaking grip, her beautiful hidden eyes slowly becoming moist at the recollection and the guilt and pain it brought to her.

_I'm so so sorry Lisanna… Natsu… I should have been stronger, I was S-Class! I should have been strong enough to beat The Beast…_

"It was a dark day, raining as if there was no tomorrow… " Gray continued, Lucy and Mira hanging on his every word. Lucy with curiosity at what happened and Mira with self-loathing at what she had allowed to happen; Gray becoming oblivious to everything around him as he was pulled into reminiscing about _that _day.

"Lisanna, Mira's sister, had died due to a job they had. I won't go into details but all I can say is that the monster they had to subjugate in that mission was so powerful that even Erza would have had trouble with it." He said, shocking Lucy slightly as she wondered how powerful a monster would have to be to trouble _Erza_, the strongest person she knew. Gray, Lucy and Mira were so drawn into the story that they didn't notice the entire guild had slowly begun to listen to Gray's rendition of the events that transpired so long ago.

* * *

_**(Erza's POV)**_

I sat in my table, away from the rest of the guild as Gray continued his story. They are mesmerized, enchanted at his telling, silently urging him to go on, utterly silent, afraid that the spell will be broken if any of them so much as coughed. They wanted to hear it again, even after many of them already gave up on Natsu.

I could not bear to hear it again, I could already relive it in my nightmares, and there was no need for it to permeate my waking hours as well. Every night since _that_ night, my sleep has been covered in dreams of Natsu and Jellal; nightmares of them falling, falling, deep into the endless abyss as I stood over the edge, arm outstretched as if I could defy Nature and save them. Their eyes stared at me, visible even as they fell farther and farther down, eyes so filled with betrayal and hate I could not remove them from my mind even after waking. As time passed the dreams worsened, becoming filled with unnamed horrors as my imagination continued thinking of scenarios, of where they were, of what had happened to them; or of nightmares where I was left all alone once again, with no one beside me, Natsu and Jellal looking at me with loathing as they walked slowly away.

In the first two months it was hell, I couldn't sleep for fear of seeing _their_ faces once again. My guild mates were beginning to worry about me; I couldn't burden them with another person who was broken, and so I began to hide my fears from them. I kept up a strong façade as I moved through the daily ritual of life, breaking it only when I was alone, when the feelings of hopelessness where greatest.

In keeping my fears from my _nakama_, I began to keep secrets from my most trusted friends. I pained me at first, but then I slowly began to justify it as I watched my friends begin to move on from the pain of losing Natsu and Lisanna; they could not understand, I reasoned, they would think I was becoming paranoid and obsessed, that it would be better if I tried to move on like they did. And so I kept my little secrets, before long they grew, as I began sleeping in Natsu's house instead of at Fairy Halls, they grew again as I began to quietly interrogate people I met on my jobs for information about Natsu. I slowly began to become good at keeping secrets from my closest friends, something that might have horrified me before but now I see the necessity of.

Now, the secret that Natsu was alive and evil was going to stay just that, a secret only I would bear. My nakama would be devastated if they knew what had become of Natsu, Mira would break down once again and Gray would get pissed off and charge after him. It would be better if they didn't know about him, if they continued to believe that Natsu was dead. I would bear this burden alone, it is mine to bear. No one else needed to get hurt, I reasoned.

My will resolute once again, I sobered myself up and listened as Gray finished the story with Natsu leaving the guild. Looking around at everyone, I saw Levy wiping her eyes with her hand; Mira with her back turned away from everyone and her shoulders sobbing slightly; Gray with what appeared to be a crystal in his eye before I realized it was a tear made of ice; Lucy with reddened eyes and-

My mind suddenly crashed into itself before it registered that my secret was no so secret after all! I began to slowly rise up to stop Lucy from revealing anything when she opened her mouth.

"Wait, did you say Natsu? Erza-san and I met someone called Natsu at Hargeon Port right before we went here, they seemed to know each other, isn't that right Erza?" She said innocently, her face turning towards me for confirmation as I froze; the entire guild slowly turning towards me like a pack of hunters seeking prey.

Gray suddenly appeared before my table with his eyes blazing, betrayal and hope burning within them; he slammed his hands down at the table and demanded, "IS IT TRUE ERZA? YOU FOUND NATSU?"

I was at a loss to say anything.

Then suddenly I didn't need to answer at all.

The ground began slowly shaking as screams suddenly sounded from Magnolia. The entire guild jumped up and stared through the doors Lucy left open, seeing a large plume of smoke rising from the far edge of the town they began a stampede to find the cause of the disturbance, but not before Gray stared at me and said sternly, "We are not finished."

Indeed we are not.

* * *

_**Far End of Magnolia, near Ground Zero…**_

This once peaceful part of Magnolia, where children used to play and have fun, where innocent people traded gossip and went about their daily lives in peace, not caring about the larger world around them, was dead.

Siegfried stared around as he tried to look for the man he was contracted to kill. What was once a house filled with a family behind him was now a ruin; its insides crumbled and caved in after a guard that attempted to attack him from behind was thrown through the window. A dead man lay a little to his right, Siegfried having mistaken him for his target, oh well, his fault for looking like the slime ball really. All around him more guards surrounded him, their nervous faces and shaking hands betraying their fear even as they tried to put up a brave front.

Siegfried stood at an intimidating 6'5 feet. His body was covered in a ragged black cloak that clung to him like a second skin, ragged blonde hair and blue eyes set in a face with sharp features and hard lines. Beneath that cloak armor was clad on his body, beautifully ornate and gunmetal grey in color, covering everything from his neck below, a piece of it shown due to his right arm not being covered by the cloak. His right hand grasped a mighty greatsword, its tip digging into the ground due to the weight and sharpness of the incredibly ornate silver blade. A guild mark was present in his neck, black against pale skin and shaped like a dragon. His faced resembled one of the mighty monsters of old as he stared straight at the guards.

He growled. "_Where is he?_" He asked in a low, dangerous voice. When no one answered him he slowly took out his sword from the ground and _blurred_. He disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind the group of guards, right arm stretched out and the sword pointed to the air, its tip dripping blood. He lowered his arm and gave his sword a flick even as the poor victims behind him erupted into fountains of blood, organs falling from slashes in their chests and guts. To the horror of the watching townspeople, they realized that the guards were not dead yet, but alive by some miracle; or curse, as they screamed and screamed, enveloped in a world of pain so powerful they couldn't see nor hear anything.

He saw a flash of white occur in the corner of his eyes and he immediately shifted his sword and blocked a blow from no other than Gray Fullbuster, Ice King of Fairy Tail. Gray had used his Ice Make to create his Ice Hammer on the move, wanting to strike at the interloper before he was noticed; to his credit, no mage of lower class than Siegfried could have seen that attack and blocked it, but alas, Siegfried was no low class mage.

He promptly applied force on his sword, causing it to move away from him even with Gray's best efforts, then he quickly raised his left foot and lashed out at Gray's body, surprising the Ice King with the speed of the counter. Gray was lifted off his feet by the strength of the kick, flipping in midair and landing with his feet of the ground beside the other members of Fairy Tail as they also started to arrive, with the S-class mages in the front of the line alongside Master Makarov.

Makarov stepped forward, his face dark and forbidding.

"What are you doing, young one?" He asked, his voice black with repressed anger at the destruction and carnage around them.

Siegfried affected a nonchalance he did not feel, regardless of how powerful he was at the moment, he could not yet take on an entire guild and win, much less the guild of Fairy Tail. For that matter, he could not hope to win against Makarov, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, without backup. So he decided to bluff and hope for a way out.

"My job" He replied.

"And what job is that?" The master asked.

"I have been contracted to kill someone here in Magnolia, a Ben Alderman." He said. Then he paused, noticing the suddenly increasing tension in the air, realizing that that was probably the wrong thing to say.

"Really? We at Fairy Tail do not condone or sanction any such act here in Magnolia. Leave now while you can and never come back." Makarov ground out of his clenched teeth.

Siegfried could feel the increasing magic in the air as Fairy Tail started to prepare to fight him off the town. _Damn, I was so close to finishing this contract too…_ He knew that even with their Master saying leave, he would never manage to get back to Dillenia alive if he didn't give them cause for distraction. He immediately began thinking of ways to divert their attention when he remembered that Natsu came from Fairy Tail, he could only hope that that would be enough, and that Natsu would forgive him. _Hell, I'll settle for Loki not making me insane, that crazy, possessive, obsessive bitch hound_. Throwing his fate to the winds and Natsu's mercy he played his card.

"Wait, did you say Fairy Tail?" He suddenly asked, throwing the guild about to rip him to shreds off. "I recall one of my guild mates was from Fairy Tail. What was his name? Natsu?"

* * *

Hey Guys!

So here's the next chappy, sorry this is kinda late but midterms absolutely murdered me T.T

Anyway, as you can see this chappy was set in Magnolia but don't worry! I'm just flipping channels between Erza, Lucy and Team Icarus and their adventures so yeah :) Why you ask? Well:

Erza – I'm using Erza's POV to better capture the slowly descending spiral that she is trapped in, torn between her secrets and her nakama. Originally, I was just going to go with the Team Icarus POV but the potential for an Erza POV was so good I didn't want to give anything less to my loyal readers!

Lucy – I'm thinking of using Lucy as a sort of measuring stick of sorts to Erza. She will be the one who most notices the subtle changes that will occur to Erza and she will be our eyes as we watch Erza slowly get more and more broken throughout the fic. Tell me what you guys think! I haven't actually finalized this POV yet so it'll depend on the reviews I get!

Icarus – Well, duh, Icarus is like, the main characters of the story.

So if you noticed I'm slowly but surely increasing the word count of my fics, so hopefully when I launch my new super-secret new fic (_Byakuya: Like your base attempt to drop hints and not give away the nature of the new story was in any way successful [__**Caja Negacion!**__]_ ) it'll be a blast!

Now, on to the reviews!

**PiWrite** – I actually don't know why the hell my A/Ns are so freaking cheerful even though I'm writing a sorta-kinda-tragedy fic (_I actually cried while writing about Lisanna's death, it was even raining while I wrote the chapters T.T_), so yeah… Also, writing idol? You flatter me good sir XD

**Rinny-Sempai 32**_** – **_Thanks for being such a loyal reader and reviewer! Yeah, I was going for confusion in the first parts of that chapter, partly to give an opening for showing the dangers of Loki's branch of magic, and as a catalyst for her reminiscing about Natsu's entrance to the guild.

**Sereneskydragonslayer** – Yep! Although while I was reading the last few chapters in the manga I noticed that Dragon's Pride is a bit _too_ much like Fairy Tail, I decided I needed to change them a bit so people won't think this is just an expy of Fairy Tail. Expect to see Dragon's Pride beginning to show their bad side in the future!

**xXxMusicNCookiesxXx** – Yeah, um about the LDA (sheepish), it was kinda an abandoned side story I wanted to do in accompaniment to this fanfic but I never really got around to continuing it, also I couldn't string my ideas into one coherent storyline so I dropped it without posting. Rest assured though, the important parts of the LDA **will** be referred to in the fic using flashbacks so we'll all know what happened to Happy T.T

**CrimsonQueen24 **– Thank you for taking the time to read my story! I also didn't want Happy to be like that, but it sorta-kinda-wrote itself as my justification for Natsu's even darker plunge during the time skip so I couldn't remove it even though I wanted to… (sniff) Also, about the gore, sorry about that, but I'm going to keep the level of gore in as it really helps in driving home the fact that this isn't a typical Fairy Tail fic, sorry if it offends your senses (bows deeply). Hopefully the future gore won't drive any readers from this fic but I can't please everyone…

**Blah-Chan** – Thanks for thinking this is an amazing fic! Although, could you elaborate on your second sentence? I can't seem to decrypt it sorry XD Lisanna will be coming into this fic at the Conclusion of the Edolas Arc and will be a major plot point and maybe the catalyst for the sequel fic I'm thinking of making XD

**To all those who Story Alerted, Favorited, Author Alerted and Favorited – **Thank you so much for liking this story so much that you follow it!

Alright, just a few things to say before I end this stupidly long A/N, first, please read the review responses I gave above, some of them contain little hints and ideas I have about the story that I might be incorporating, and changes I will be implementing in the future.

Second, I expect to release the first chapter of my Bleach fic soon so I'll be working full stop on that

Third, I have an annoying plot bunny hopping around about a Gundam 00/SEED crossover, those interested should go to my profile for details of the fic. Please comment on the summary! I need input if I should use ELS Setsuna, Innovator Setsuna or S2 Setsuna, and whether I use Exia R2, 00 raiser or 00 Qan[T] for the fic! I should update it maybe an hour after posting this chappy.

Anyway, that's all (phew)! Please review my work so I know I'm still doing alright and if you want to see some scenes or interactions appear don't hesitate to ask me and I might incorporate it into the fic!

Cheers,

Creleuth


End file.
